By helping our clients run tough, smart, tactical campaigns and producing award-winning TV and radio ads, Main Street enables candidates to define both themselves and the larger political debate. As media and strategic consultants, we work with you and your pollster to create and implement a cohesive, proactive and consistent message that develops a clear candidate image, takes the offense in the media and in the blogs, responds quickly and aggressively to crises, and redefines the opposition.
We believe in a basic principle: winning campaigns are based on creative ads. Most people do not care about politics – and they hate political ads. Making matters worse, campaigns must compete not only with their opponents, but also with large corporations for airtime. The average congressional campaign may spend $1,000,000 on TV and radio ads over several months; Apple might spend that much for just a couple of weeks of advertising. That is why your ads must be clever, concise, humorous and unique – in short, they must demonstrate the originality and the creativity it takes to punch through a crowded TV market.
We accomplish this by creating compelling ads that use humor, music and pop culture references to connect with voters on an emotional level. Our ads neither look nor sound “political.” We have built our reputation by producing creative, strategic, and smart-looking ads that help our candidates win upset races against better-funded “front-runners”; our clients are often out-spent, but never out-hustled.
Main Street becomes far more than a strategic partner in your campaign; we become steadfast allies in battle focused almost single-mindedly on helping you win. Whether we are producing pitch-perfect ads or delivering seamless online-offline strategies, we have a record of success and a level of involvement that no other firm can match.
STUART ROTHENBERG, ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT, ON REP. MIKE MCINTYRE'S 2012 RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN (NC-7)
Dave writes each script, directs each shoot, and edits each spot personally. We pride ourselves on an exceptional level of client service, and that is how we have been able to build Unprecedented exclusivity. A team with a deeply passionate and personal commitment to our clients. Work that is honest and genuine, that moves and motivates people. At Main Street, we strictly limit the number of clients we take on, and we get deeply involved in these races. Unlike other firms, we do not keep additional producers on staff; when you hire Main Street, you get Dave Heller.
1. Know your target audience. Know who they are and what they care about, and design ads that move them.
2. Define the debate, don’t react to it. Make sure your ads are always setting the agenda for the campaign, not responding.
3. Be innovative & unpredictable. Find new ways to communicate the campaign’s message.
4. The poll and the research (self and opposition) are the two most expensive books a candidate will ever buy. The media consultant has a responsibility to be intimately familiar with each of them and, of course, to use them extensively.
5. Always be credible. Never tell voters the opposite of what they already believe.
6. Connect with voters on a visceral level. Emotional ads can build a bond that is hard to break.
7. Keep it fresh. The ads must be interesting to – and connect with – the viewer, or they will not get watched.
8. Production values matter. Rich colors, smart graphics, soft light, consistent flesh tones … these are all things that give ads a higher quality look, and subliminally impress voters.
9. Radio is different than television. Never ever let immediate consultant convince you to run a television spot as a radio spot. Radio is a completely different medium, and should be treated as such-with creativity and originality.
10. Throw out the conventional wisdom. Washington usually gets it wrong. That’s why our strategies often run contrary to conventional wisdom-but are always in perfect harmony with the campaign’s research and polling.