Blackrock Associates cooks up a baker's dozen at 2009 “Pollie” Awards

Berkeley, CA – Blackrock Associates, LLC, the leader in online marketing and strategy for progressive candidate and issue campaigns, received a staggering thirteen “Pollie Awards” at the 2009 Conference of the American Association of Political Consultants. Since 1991, the prestigious annual awards have recognized the best in public affairs and political communications.

“We are extremely pleased that the AAPC has once again recognized the groundbreaking new media solutions and leadership in online political marketing we provide for Democratic campaigns and progressive causes,” said Blackrock principal and co-founder Larry Huynh.

“To be recognized in so many categories really shows the online strategy expertise Blackrock provides to a wide variety of top-notch clients, across a whole range of new media disciplines,” added Blackrock principal and co-founder Brent Blackaby.

Blackrock Associates was recognized for Best Use of Breakthrough Internet Fundraising Technique and Best Use of New Technology for its innovative Wedding Registry distributed fundraising tool for the No on Prop 8 campaign.  The campaign allowed couples to register on a website where wedding guests could redirect their gift money to the marriage equality fight in lieu of wedding gifts, increasing donations for the No on Prop 8 campaign and broadening the movement’s online grassroots support.

Together with design and development partner Articulated Man, Blackrock took home a total of six awards for website design, including a clean sweep of the Website: Candidate: U.S. Senate: Democrat category for their work with Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Tim Johnson (D-SD), as well as successful web projects for Governor Jay Nixon (D-MO), Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-CA), and the original No on Prop 8 website in California. 

In addition, Blackrock won top honors in the Best Use of Game Technology category, working with Flash developer Max Hancock to launch "Matt Blunt: Document Destroyer" (http://www.bluntdocumentdestroyer.com), an interactive game that tasked players with "shining the light" on former Governor Matt Blunt's (R-MO) scandalous administration.  This accolade comes on the heels of Blackrock's Pollie award-winning "DeLay's Dollars" game developed for Rep. Nick Lampson (D-TX) in the 2006 cycle.

Among the thirteen awards, Blackrock was also recognized for use of streaming video in online fundraising and interactive map widgets for Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD), search engine marketing campaigns for Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), and more.

“The most exciting Pollies we’ve been awarded this year are for tailored solutions to real problems faced by real clients,” clarified Blackrock senior consultant Mike Disharoon, “not pre-packaged approaches that look the same for everybody.”