What a Digital Team Should Look Like in 2018

NEW DNC

WHAT A DIGITAL TEAM

SHOULD LOOK LIKE

IN 2018

Caitlin Mitchell

Chief Mobilization Officer

Democratic National Committee

@k8thegr8est

1. New mission: To elect Democrats from school board

to the Oval Office

2. There are no off-years

3. Every Zip Code counts

4. Investing in our tech and data infrastructure

NEW DNC, NEW RULES

TECH ADOPTION: THE DIGITAL + POLITICAL SPACE

2004 2008 2012 2016

MISSION

To mobilize everyday supporters to invest in

electing Democrats, volunteer around the

issues that matter to them, and bring their

family and friends into the fold.

WELCOME TO THE DNC MOBILIZATION TEAM


DONOR

MOBILIZATION

MESSAGE

MOBILIZATION

GRASSROOTS

MOBILIZATION


EMAIL FUNDRAISING

DIRECT MAIL

TELEMARKETING

DNC STORE/ORG-WIDE MERCH

DIGITAL ADSDESIGN/VISUAL

BRANDINGDIGITAL STRATEGY:

STATE PARTIES

DIRECT MARKETING ACQUISITION

CORRESPONDENCE

SOCIAL MEDIA

VIDEO

DIGITAL ORGANIZING

DIGITAL STRATEGY: CAMPAIGNS

BLAST SMS

P2P SMS

CALL TOOL


DONORMOBILIZATION WHAT WE’RE DOING

• Fully integrate our grassroots donor

messaging and data + the voter file

• Create a seamless multi-channel

fundraising strategy

• Automation for production + testing

• Predictive content + hyper-segmentation

MESSAGEMOBILIZATION WHAT WE’RE DOING

• Tell the story of the new DNC and our

work through rich content

• Better understand which social media

content resonates and brings new

supporters into the fold

• Empower diverse voices to help tell the

story of our work

OUR WORK: MESSAGE MOBILIZATION

GRASSROOTSMOBILIZATION

Best practices + testing

InterventionPrograms at scale

Elections

OUR APPROACH: 2017 SPECIAL ELECTIONS

① We should challenge pre-2017 assumptions about

what digital tactics work

② Our digital organizing programs can and should be

just as targeted as digital ads and mail

③ Overwhelming numbers of volunteers need to be

plugged into campaigns asap

④ Our role is as advisor, tactician, and to fill in the gaps

OUR WORK: VIRGINIA RACES

CHALLENGE: Make volunteering as easy

as possible

• Helped run a highly targeted in-state and

Out of Commonwealth (OOCW)

organizing program

• Designed and developed a VA events

lookup that drove thousands of RSVPs

• Worked to develop Ginny, a FB bot that

conducted thousands of conversations

with volunteers (and synced with VAN)



CHALLENGE: Develop compelling

content, up and down the ballot

• Designed and developed

GillespieFacts.com

• Helped develop design products up

and down the ballot

• Produced TV-quality videos for

House of Delegates candidates and

volunteer training



CHALLENGE: Make voting as easy as

possible

• Along with the campaign, we sent 3.5

million text messages to VA voters

• Used Voter Circle + DNC data to

connect supporters with other potential

voters

• Trained organizers to make SMS, social

media, and virtual dialers part of their

everyday work

OUR WORK: ALABAMA SENATE SPECIAL ELECTION

• Sent 30 staffers to Alabama,

including a dedicated digital

staffer

• Invested over 1M in the race,

focusing on black, faith, and

youth outreach

• Helped Alabama voters make

over 1.3 million phone calls

and 325,000 door knocks


DIGITAL ORGANIZING

• Made a 5-figure investment into campaign data

structure for voter turnout

• Ran a full-scale digital program, including more than

1 million text messages sent

• Sent more than 200,000 individualized polling place

locations to voters the day before Election Day



NEW DNC

Questions?

Caitlin Mitchell

Chief Mobilization Officer

Democratic National Committee

@k8thegr8est

Presentations & Public Speaking

What a Digital Team Should Look Like in 2018