Blackrock Associates wins four "Pollie" awards
02/24/2007
Berkeley, CA -- Blackrock Associates, LLC, the leading online marketing consulting firm for progressive candidate and initiative campaigns, was recently awarded four "Pollie Awards" from the American Association of Political Consultants. The annual awards, now in their 16th year, recognize the best in public affairs and political communications. The four awards span a diverse set of categories -- from viral video to website design, Flash animation, and podcasting -- underscoring Blackrock Associates' expertise and versatility in all facets of political online marketing.
"We're so honored to be recognized with four Pollies for the online impact we delivered for our clients in the 2006 election cycle," said Blackrock principal and co-founder Larry Huynh. "Ultimately, our primary goal is to deliver top quality online strategy work for our clients, but being recognized by our peers is extremely gratifying as well."
"All seven of our federal and state clients won their elections this past fall, and these four Pollies recognize the online leadership that helped us go 7-for-7," added Blackrock principal and co-founder Brent Blackaby.
In the Best use of YouTube category, Blackrock Associates joined with GMMB and Jim Webb for Senate staffers SR Sidarth, Joe Stanley, Kevin Druff, and Lowell Feld to win for the infamous video of Sen. George Allen referring to Mr. Sidarth as "Macaca" at a campaign event in Virginia. After being uploaded, this video was viewed nearly 1 million times on YouTube alone, and the stir it created generated earned media coverage that would have cost millions to replicate. Many political experts believe that this video was single-handedly responsible for changing the dynamic in this race and opening the door for Webb's eventual victory.
Blackrock Associates, together with Flash designer Max Hancock, won an award in the Best use of Game Technology category for "DeLay's Dollars," an entertaining and engaging Flash-based game that took advantage of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s high profile among Democrats to bring activists from across the country into Nick Lampson’s campaign for Congress. The viral nature of the game generated thousands of new email list sign-ups from this single project.
Blackrock Associates also received a second award for their work on the Nick Lampson campaign, teaming with web developer Articulated Man to win an award for Best website for a U.S. House race. The Lampson for Congress website was designed to engage casual visitors from around the nation, but given the rapid changes regarding DeLay's status in the race, the website also became a vital communications tool for communicating timely information to voters within the district.
Together with engineer Tony Steidler-Dennison of the Roadhouse Podcast and O2 Digital Media, Blackrock Associates won the only award given in the Best use of Podcasting category for General Wes Clark's ClarkCast episode on climate change featuring Senator Barbara Boxer. The weekly ClarkCast was created to help bring broad attention to key Democratic issues during the 2006 mid-term election cycle, while breaking with the ad-hoc nature of most political podcasts in its attention to production values and schedule that worked in four-week cycles, allowing the ClarkCast to explore topics in depth. The submitted installment was among the most highly-rated by members of the WesPAC community and was downloaded over 25,000 times.
"Winning four Pollies was a tremendous achievement for our firm," said Blackrock consultant Mike Disharoon. "With the 2008 cycle already underway, this gives us a high bar to aim at going forward."
View the winning entries:
DeLay's Dollars: www.delaysdollars.com
"Macaca" Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G7gq7GQ71c
Lampson for Congress Website: www.lampson.com
ClarkCast: www.securingamerica.com/taxonomy/term/22
Blackrock Associates, LLC, is the leading online marketing consulting firm for progressive candidate and initiative campaigns. Blackrock's two principals, Brent Blackaby and Larry Huynh, offer many years of experience in online marketing, online fundraising, supporter acquisition, and grassroots engagement from work in both the political and business worlds. Among other political and non-profit clients, Blackrock Associates is currently serving General Wesley Clark, Senator Barbara Boxer, Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Mary Landrieu, Senator Patrick Leahy, Senator Carl Levin, Senator Jim Webb, Congressman Nick Lampson, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
During the 2006 political cycle, Blackrock went 7-for-7: helping elect Senator Jim Webb (VA), Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN), Congressman Nick Lampson (TX-22), Secretary of State Debra Bowen (CA), State Controller John Chiang (CA), as well as defeating Measure 43, a parental notification initiative in Oregon and helping pass Proposition 84, the clean water infrastructure bond in California. In particular, for Senator Webb's campaign, Blackrock helped coordinate and achieve the viralization of the infamous "macaca" video and raised $4 million online, more than 50% of the total funds raised by the campaign.