From South Dakota War College a familiar name has popped up as Governor Chris Christie’s new ad man for his upcoming campaign:

Chris Christie has expanded his media team, but has retained his longtime ad-maker and adviser who had worked for the Mitt Romney campaign, sources said.

Russ Schriefer, who was a Romney adviser along with his longtime business partner, Stuart Stevens, is the main producer on the Christie ad team.

and…

The new ad man is Casey Phillips, co-founder of RedPrint Strategy, who will also work on the production team. Jamestown Associates, which has worked with Christie for years as well, is doing his ad buying, the sources said.

Also on Y’all Politics

Dean Browning for County Executive “Hangar” TV :30 Produced by RedPrint Strategy

Thank you to all of our 2012 clients who let us enter their work.

Produced by RedPrint Strategy and Barnfly Productions

Produced by: RedPrint Strategy

Location: Billings, Montana

Camera: Red Scarlet – X

-RedPrint

From Campaigns & Elections

While the 2012 election results are still being evaluated, one thing is clear: Republican failures at the polls were a direct result of an inability to adapt the party’s messaging and outreach to the digital age.

Not only did the GOP fail to disseminate its message beyond its reliable base of voters, it also relied too heavily on traditional advertising campaigns, while neglecting innovative voter identification methods and persuasion tactics.

But the party’s problems are deeper than a failure to employ any specific technology, tactic or tool. The GOP must overhaul its entire outlook on digital communication. Only by investing in digital will the party generate the kind of support that leads to electoral success. From where I sit, there are four fundamental areas we need to focus on.

1. Creative Consumption
The rising popularity of Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo and other photo and video-sharing websites underscores how hungry online audiences are for content that not only informs but also entertains and motivates. Online behavior, especially in social media, is most effectively driven by creative design, emotionally riveting visuals and content that inspires action.

The Obama campaign firmly grasped the relationship between creativity and engagement in 2012. In fact, Organizing for America has used catchy videos, personalized media, and other creative tactics to grab the attention of their target audiences since 2008.

Republicans simply haven’t invested the necessary resources into appealing to audiences (especially young voters) that respond to compelling media and design campaigns. It’s simply not enough to put out a statement, send a news release or write a Facebook post. Creativity must be incubated by enlisting the work of more graphic designers, creative writers, videographers and musicians who can help the GOP appeal to more voters in more ways.

2. Data
Democrats were far more effective than Republicans in advertising to key demographics this past cycle. Democrats sent custom messages to specific audiences on television and online. Republican candidates, meanwhile, failed to embrace targeted messaging strategies that localized their elections, relying instead on single-issue national messaging.

The left succeeded because it had the data. Obama’s team spent months recruiting target state data managers to focus on list building activities. Republicans didn’t. That was the game change. In today’s digital age, data is the most precious commodity. The possibilities for optimizing, segmenting and communicating information from data are nearly endless.

From the presidential level on down, the results exposed how far off Republican data were. The reliance on traditional polling methods, and the lack of understanding of non-traditional voters skewed what Republican campaigns were learning about voters. To compete, Republicans must make major investments in data consumption. They must build algorithms for matching data to develop demographic models that will help them identify valuable voter behavior. This information must be gathered and shared by each campaign and party committee.

It is equally important to identify contact attributes (i.e. Twitter profile, areas of interest, geo-location) that tell us more about voters and potential voters. Fortunately, new technologies are constantly released, such as the Facebook OpenGraph, which offers opportunities to derive data like never before.

3. Social
After 2008, Republicans believed they understood online and social media strategies for targeting voters. They didn’t. Republicans did increase their presence on social media and advertising on digital platforms in subsequent elections, but it appears they were still communicating with the same reliable voters they were communicating with in traditional spaces.

The party simply wasn’t using these platforms to engage new voters, and a social media strategy is only effective if it focuses on constant growth and engagement. Audiences must be fed spoonfuls of varying content that keep them informed, engaged and ready to share with their respective networks. This feeding serves to bring more audiences to the trough, inviting new networks of people to the feast.

The web isn’t a broadcast medium like television or radio, where one power structure simply transfers information to the masses. The web is made up of social networks that trade in information sharing. Delivering engaging content that prompts individuals to share it across networks creates value.

4. The Operative
The niche approach is collapsing in the consulting world, and it needs to collapse on campaigns and committees too. It’s time the Republican political establishment started placing a premium on digital acumen. The GOP doesn’t need more operatives who are defined narrowly as the “political guy” or the “internet gal.” Today’s political environment requires a new breed of operatives who can do both, hand-in-hand.

Smart campaigns blend both traditional fieldwork and grassroots with databases, social media and mobile in order to engage and mobilize voters. The party committees shouldn’t leave all the digital outreach to the digital folks; they should have political directors and senior advisors who are equipped with both a digital and field background.

Campaigning is a little bit art and a little bit science. But, at its core, it is an intangible movement of energy and a medium of information. A campaign by definition is a vehicle for transmitting information in an attempt to motivate people to vote for or against a particular candidate or issue.

A new technology or new platform is not going to win elections. A new culture will. Republicans must not resist new ways of communicating just because they challenge preexisting beliefs. The way forward is found in a party culture that truly believes in adapting in the digital world.

New technology, new media and new tactics are shaping how campaigns are being managed. And Republicans’ long-term viability depends on their ability to harness these new trends in technology and communication. The future of political warfare is online. Republicans must learn how to exploit new strategies for ongoing voter communication and campaign organizing. Any operative who doesn’t will be left in the dust.

Brian Donahue is a founder and partner at Craft Media Digital.

Joe Miller “Weeds”

Senator Joe Miller’s “Weeds” spot, (click link above to listen) took home top honors at Campaigns and Elections Magazine’s annual “Reed Awards” for best Radio Spot in a legislative race.

RedPrint is very proud to have written and produced this spot and of having assisted Senator Miller in winning re-election.

“Weeds” is certainly more funny if you grew up in a rural area but the message seems to resonate well across a broad spectrum of voters and ad professionals alike.

We hope you enjoy it.

• By Kyle Trygstad
• Roll Call Staff
• Dec. 5, 2012, 6:55 p.m.

Kyle Trygstad/CQ Roll Call

Casey Phillips was listed at 6 feet 4 inches tall, 264 pounds, on the University of Wyoming football roster a dozen years ago, so it wasn’t difficult to spot him last week as he strolled through the revolving door of a restaurant in Arlington, Va.

The former offensive lineman, who just turned 32, is the owner of RedPrint Strategy media firm and is among the vanguard of young Republican strategists looking to steer the GOP on a path of electoral success in the 21st century. In his first cycle as a media consultant, Phillips earned a coveted spot in the stable of consultants for the National Republican Congressional Committee’s independent expenditure arm and produced ads in top races in California and Nevada.

In 2011, rather than join an established firm after spending the previous two cycles as a regional political director at the Republican State Leadership Committee and as an NRCC field representative, Phillips veered onto the road less traveled and struck out on his own.

“I had some good offers at some very good firms to be a junior partner, but I sort of wanted to do it a little differently,” Phillips said. “That’s the decision I made — to really do it my own way.”

Phillips is conservative, but not particularly ideological. He’s competitive, yet easygoing. He’s relatively new to the ad-making game, but he dived headfirst into the 2012 cycle and is now aiming to expand his congressional clientele for the 2014 midterms.

Cattle Rancher

Sporting a red flannel shirt, dark jeans and brown cowboy boots, Phillips spoke softly between sips of iced tea as he ran through his bio. His roots are unique, even in a town filled with folks from everywhere else.

Phillips grew up on a South Dakota cattle ranch that’s been in his family for more than 100 years. He attended a one-room schoolhouse, sometimes commuting on horseback, until his parents decided he needed to attend a high school in town to fully realize his athletic ability. They bought a small house 50 miles away in Sturgis, where he lived during the school week.

After two years as a walk-on at Wyoming, Phillips transferred back in-state to Augustana College in Sioux Falls on a scholarship, started at center and served as team captain. Phillips, then with locks falling below his shoulders, also played bass guitar in a rock band.

After attending a meeting one day with the College Republicans, Phillips volunteered on former Lt. Gov. Steve Kirby’s gubernatorial campaign, and later that year he scored a gig as a South Dakota Victory field representative, assisting then-Rep. John Thune’s first Senate campaign.

“That’s where the bug really bit me that made me want to get into politics,” Phillips said. “I met so many great people on that campaign and understood how a campaign worked and that it was a way for me to have my competitive outlet continue even after sports was over.”

In the Trenches

The bug delayed his graduation date by a couple of years, as Phillips took semesters off to work on campaigns. The first was in 2004 as political director on the Texas congressional campaign of Lyle Thorstenson, where he put together his first get-out-the-vote operation.

After the unsuccessful primary, media consultant Sonny Scott recommended Phillips move to southwest Virginia to serve the same role in Kevin Triplett’s congressional campaign for the general. Afterward, the NRCC asked him to help with now-Rep. Charles Boustany Jr.’s runoff in Louisiana.

Phillips finished his degree in spring 2005 before GOP operative Ward Baker asked him to run Anne B. Crockett-Stark’s campaign for Virginia delegate — his first race as campaign manager. On a shoestring budget, Phillips lived in an abandoned gas station, and the campaign was run out of a condemned house, where he laid down a linoleum floor and painted the walls.

The Red Jeep

As Phillips crisscrossed the country for campaigns, followed by field work for the NRCC and RSLC, the one constant was his 1999 red Jeep Grand Cherokee. After a dozen campaigns and nearly 200,000 miles, the SUV has been through a lot — it’s on its second engine, transmission and driver-side bucket seat, and the ceiling is completely covered in campaign stickers.

As he regularly does, Phillips had to jump-start the Jeep last week when he took CQ Roll Call on a quick spin. The engine’s screeching moan leaves the impression it might be suffering through its final days, but after his rookie season as a media consultant, Phillips is just getting started.

“I wasn’t going to be able to pitch against [GOP consultant heavyweights] Mike McElwain and Scott Howell and Fred Davis for congressional clients, but I could sure go to Mississippi and pitch against whoever was doing stuff down there for state Senate clients,” Phillips said.

RedPrint’s first ad ever, in 2011, was for a Mississippi agriculture commissioner candidate. It earned the firm a Pollie Award, which led to work for the NRCC and Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., Phillips’ home-state congresswoman.

The Jeep made a cameo in an NRCC ad against Rep.-elect Steven Horsford, D-Nev. An actor playing Horsford crashed a car into the Jeep and then drove off, part of an ad campaign arguing that Horsford played by his own rules.

Another NRCC ad Phillips produced against a few California Democrats riffed on John Hancock ads that featured no talking — just people texting or chatting online to convey the message. The format allowed Phillips to shoot the ad before the Supreme Court ruled on the health care law in June, then slide in the text based on whatever happened. The court upheld the law on a Thursday, Phillips finished the ads in a few hours, and the NRCC launched the inexpensive campaign the following Monday.

“In a world that’s filled with consultants and vendors, he’s found a way to stick out amongst the crowd very quickly,” said Brian O. Walsh, president of the American Action Network and a friend of Phillips. “He’s part of this universe of the next generation of folks that are stepping into the marketplace.”

Team Effort

Phillips has no formal filmmaking training, so he read textbooks and attended film expos and even the Sundance Film Festival. He bought a high-powered RED Scarlet camera, and he’s currently working on a screenplay as an exercise to improve the dialogue in his ad scripts.

“I’m not some sort of genius by any stretch of the imagination,” Phillips said. “I’m a country boy from South Dakota. I think that I understand politics a little bit and I’ve certainly paid my dues in the trenches, but these ads are huge team efforts, and a lot of people are involved.”

Phillips relied on strategic partnerships, including with 8112 Studios, which is known for music videos, not political work. The partnership fit into Phillips’ effort to stand out. In that vein, he’s also hoping to help the GOP reach the next generation of voters, which Phillips believes is fundamental to its problem attracting minority voters.

“We have a marketing problem, which is something that I want to try to fix and I’m excited about,” Phillips said. “Because politics of division just don’t work anymore. And it’s too bad that they ever did.”

When he wasn’t on the road, Phillips worked out of a bedroom in his Arlington, Va., apartment. The lack of overhead helped the fledgling firm stay “light and nimble,” he said, but he’s looking to open an office and get some of the “bells and whistles” of a traditional media firm.

“This year,” Phillips said, “I’m going to certainly be more confident going into pitches against those established media firms, because I have a reel that’s sellable even against the best. I didn’t have that two years ago.”