Memorandum

To:

Candidate Smith

From: Jon Paolo Cenon, Campaign Consultant

Date: 5/3/16
Re:

Campaign Recommendations

Introduction
To better help you this coming 2016 election, we need to come up with a
strategy that will put us in favor over other candidates. I have gathered a few
pointers on how President Obama became successful in his 2012 campaign.
We are going to look at what worked for Obama and what didnt work for
Romney, and implement some of their strategies with ours to best ensure the
efficiency of your campaign.
Media campaign
It is very important that we incorporate social media in your presidential
campaign. More and more people are creating social media profiles and
social media users are skyrocketing. Taking advantage of this platform can
greatly help increase your supporters I have come across an article on how
President Obama have used social media wisely and gained voters because
of it. The title of the article is How Obama Won the Social Media Battle in
the 2012 Presidential Campaign1. The title alone should already give you an
idea on the importance of attracting social media users and getting your
name out there on the Internet sphere. According to the article, people trust
the people they know. For example, if person A posts something on his or
her social media, person As friends would likely be influenced by it since
they are acquainted. So what Im trying to say is that we should address
current issues and use social media to let everyone know how you stand on
the issue. This way, those who support our idea are more likely to share it
with their friends this can create a ripple effect that will favor you when
Election Day comes. I also believe that its best to hire a team to manage all
your social media profiles since managing them yourself can be very time
consuming. Currently, there are different social media platforms available,
but Facebook and Twitter should be our main focus since these two are
some of the biggest platforms out there. Take this into consideration and you
will not regret it.

May 3, 2016

Campaign Video
We can use campaign videos to get your message across, but equally
important, they have to be effective as well. I was able to analyze a couple
videos from both Obama and Romney during their campaign, and I can
advise you on what works and what doesnt. First, we need to stay away
from having a negative theme and stick with an uplifting message and tone.
Giving people hope, and letting them know that the future is going to be
okay, is what we need to focus on. For instance, Obamas The Choice
campaign ad is a very good example of an uplifting and motivating campaign
video that Americans will tend to like2. It has a very positive theme
accompanied with uplifting background music. In addition, we need to use
positive terms to promote you and your plans for the country. This way,
viewers will get a sense of security and encouragement towards you. On the
other hand, I believe that creating a video that plainly bad-mouths the
competition is just a waste of money. Also, we need to make the video
relatable and easy to watch. We shouldnt bombard the audience with tons
of information within a short length clip. Lastly, we can greatly use some
endorsements from respectable people, which can help attract more
supporters. For instance, Bill Clinton showed support and endorsed Obama
in the Clear Choice campaign ad for Obama3. I believe this is an effective
strategy since Clinton was a well-respected president, and doing this
encouraged Clinton supporters to support Obama as well. As for you, we just
have to find someone who is willing to stand behind you and endorse you.
Statistics of Swing States: Colorado and Florida
We need to appeal to the swing states to ensure that we get their votes. Ive
looked at demographical statistics of two of the swing states, Colorado and
Florida. Both states are showing poverty level of 13% and above 4. So my
suggestion is to include a plan in your campaign that will approach this topic.
We can come up with a plan that will create jobs and decrease taxes to
ensure that unemployment will go down, and decrease poverty level
accordingly. Education is also important thing that we need to address.
Florida has 86.5% secondary and post secondary education 5. Even though
its not too low, we still need to create a plan that will make education more
available to anyone. In regards to ethnicity, both states population majority is
White, followed by Hispanics6. To get their support, we need to find out and
issues or concern they might have and address them accordingly. Im
thinking of doing surveys or polls to gather public opinions and then we can
go from there. The important part is getting the publics majority opinion
since the majority will be the deciding factor when election comes. In
addition, we also need to appeal to both states majority age group, which is
around 35-547. Again, we need to find out and address any issues or
concerns they might have to ensure that we get their support.

May 3, 2016
References:
1. Rutledge, Pamela. "How Obama Won the Social Media Battle in the 2012
Presidential Campaign." The Media Psychology Blog. January 25, 2013. Accessed
April 6, 2016. http://mprcenter.org/blog/2013/01/how-obama-won-the-socialmedia-battle-in-the-2012-presidential-campaign/
2. ""The Choice" - Obama For America TV Ad." YouTube. 2012. Accessed April 17, 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBorRZnqtMo.
3. ""Clear Choice" - Obama for America TV Ad." YouTube. 2012. Accessed April 17, 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xsZ45Weng0.
4. U.S. Bureau of the Census. INCOME IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS (IN 2014 INFLATIONADJUSTED DOLLARS). ONLINE. 2014. Census Bureau. Available:
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF [7 Apr.
2016].
5. U.S. Bureau of the Census. EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT. ONLINE. 2014. Census
Bureau. Available:
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF [7 Apr.
2016].
6. U.S. Bureau of the Census. ACS DEMOGRAPHIC AND HOUSING ESTIMATES.
ONLINE. 2014. Census Bureau. Available:
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?
src=CF [7 Apr. 2016].
7. U.S. Bureau of the Census. ACS DEMOGRAPHIC AND HOUSING ESTIMATES.
ONLINE. 2014. Census Bureau. Available:
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF [7 Apr.
2016].