Target Point

The Campaign

In 2004, TargetPoint engaged with a United States Senate candidate who ran what many considered a “perfect” campaign for the United States Senate in 2002 – yet he came up a tiny handful of votes short.

In 2004, the candidate, the Republican Party and conservative organizations from around the nation decided that they would find those 524 votes – and more – to ensure victory.

By the summer of 2004 the campaign was again running at an optimal level, but their team realized that they were still not effectively targeting all their direct contact communications. Specifically there were three key groups they were struggling to reach with targeted communications:

• Low turnout Republicans and conservatives who needed motivation and mobilization to get to the polls.
• Republican voters who were defecting to the Democrat incumbent.
• Democratic voters who had soured on the Democrat incumbent’s liberal voting record and obstructionism and who were potential defectors to the Republican candidate.

To find these key voters they turned to TargetPoint Consulting and MicroTargeting.

The Results

TargetPoint went to work and came up with a winning solution for now Senator. The MicroTargeting models identified thousands of Republicans who were very supportive of the Senator and responsive to the Senator’s message, but who were not likely to turn out at the polls – even in Presidential election years. These voters were treated to extra contacts and intensive get out the vote efforts in the final days of the campaign.

Also identified were several thousand high turnout Democrats and Independents who were the most likely to swing to the Republican candidate based on a strong appeal on the issues that mattered most to them – issues like tax cuts, spending restraint, gay marriage and abortion. These voters were subjected to intensive persuasion campaign leading up to Election Day. Finally, they found the nearly 10,000 traditional “Republicans” who were the most likely to defect to the Democrat. These Republicans were singled out for extra persuasion efforts but dropped from high-intensity turnout efforts, conserving resources to be used on low turnout Republicans and the defecting Democrats.

In the end, the picture perfect campaign of two years prior was largely replicated and with the help of MicroTargeting, the campaign found not the just 525 they were missing in 2002, but an additional 30,366 votes – unseating the incumbent. The entire campaign stands out as an example of a very well run campaign and the MicroTargeting work done there stands out as an example of the winning edge it has provided to campaigns across America.

Our Approach

TargetPoint Consulting is a full service public opinion and market research firm based in Alexandria, Virginia that provides innovative research solutions, advanced information and customer management systems to politics, public policy and business. TargetPoint is best known for its pioneering work in the field of political MicroTargeting, a technique that merges customer- relationship management technologies, advanced marketing techniques and traditional political targeting. MicroTargeting utilizes advanced information management technology for sequencing an individual’s unique “data trail” to predict attitudes and behaviors. MicroTargeting allows candidates, campaigns and businesses to go beyond broad-brush demographic and geographic targeting, and instead move into highly refined, individualized messaging.

TargetPoint is the leader in Voter Relationship Management, allowing your campaign to not only strategically assess what moves or motivates a voter, but establish loyalty and initiate voter activation. Through TargetPoint’s strategic consulting and relationship management, your campaign will have the most advanced techniques and technology and most importantly, the competitive advantage.

Our core principle of continuously attacking challenges and opportunities with innovative solutions is reflected in the variety of our backgrounds and experience. The company’s principals and senior managers come from the worlds of survey research, data base management, political science, advanced analytics statistics, and political campaign management and messaging. Together, the TPC team brings the best, most advanced techniques and technology to the table, providing the winning edge and competitive advantages.