Kasim Reed

Political Technology and Web Design:

WebStrong Group began working in January of 2009 with Kasim Reed's campaign to execute on our strategic recommendations for both the website and the online strategy. For the new website launch in the first quarter of 2009, we built a website that encompassed the city skyline of Atlanta prominently, working in photos, videos and statements from the campaign that portrayed the candidate as strong, bold, and ready.

The principal goal of the website launch was to build Kasim Reed's brand and demonstrate to Atlanta that he had the forward-thinking ideas and organizational strength to make him the best choice to lead Atlanta in 2010.

Results:

Our online efforts were very multimedia-centric for the website, with the goal to provide as much visual information as the viewer desired. Most of our visitors were coming in from established social networking communities, where the campaign executed the bulk of the online strategy through the "Reed Everywhere" effort. The website also contained an action-based social networking component branded as "Organize For Atlanta" for super-volunteers to engage with Kasim Reed.

Kasim Reed increased in the polls from single digits to forcing a runoff with Mary Norwood, and ultimately, winning the run-off election. Kasim Reed's web presence demonstrated to voters in Atlanta that Kasim Reed's campaign was forward looking and a leader, and presented the best option for moving Atlanta forward in 2010.

Online Strategy and GOTV:

The online strategy of Kasim Reed's campaign was directly integrated with the campaigns GOTV plan by using existing social networking sites.

The campaign did not have a ton of resources to be able to do web advertising, but the candidate did have a lot of personal appeal that could be leveraged to growing his number of supporters across the web. Even in the early stages of the campaign, Kasim Reed was building a real competitive advantage over the other candidates by reaching out to voters on social media and networking websites (e.g. MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter). The strategy was three-fold: contact people, continue to engage with them, and then get them out to vote.

Once an individual was engaged with Reed and his campaign, they were asked to reach out to their friends to encourage them to also become supporters. As the election neared, the message was simple: Get Ready To Vote; first in the primary, then in the run-off. By election day, we knew the campaign had amassed the numbers needed to make a difference.

Results:

Kasim Reed started the year in single-digits, and was still polling third a few weeks before the primary. But online, Kasim Reed was way out in front. He finished a strong second at over 37 percent and held the frontrunner to 46 percent to force a runoff. In the run-off, Kasim Reed won by a 715 votes -- Kasim Reed had 42,549 votes and his opponent had 41,834 votes.

The total number of supporters for Kasim Reed online, throughout the social media and networking sites, was over 18,500. His opponent only had about 3,000 giving the Reed campaign a 6:1 advantage.

That competitive advantage was crucial when it came to GOTV efforts. Leading up to the election, online supporters were continually engaged and encouraged to get ready to vote.

To GOTV and win a close election like this, it takes the effort of every part of the campaign to do it. Having amassed a competitive advantage online, Kasim Reed was able to overtake his opponent's traditional strengths and win the election.