Post Election ROI

The talk of "fiscal responsibility" certainly hits home for most of us. In business, our opportunity--and YES, it is an opportunity--is to look beyond the way things have been done to a more strategic, wise...ah, fiscally responsible use of resources. That's our goal...but for a moment let's look at an example of how not to do it...(and ask if you've ever had your promotional counselor ever really bother to counsel with analytic insight and perspective)


In the Wisconsin Gubernatorial Race, Common Cause (non-partisan citizen group) estimated $45-50 million dollars were spent...to influence a total of about 2 million votes. WOW; but it gets more interesting...

A look at pre-election polls (we'll use the Rasmussen poll) shows that in March basically 10% of the people polled were either undecided or supported some other (not the Democrat or Republican) candidate. Fast forward to the eve of the election (Oct 27)....the Rasmussen poll now indicated a total of 5% either supporting someone else or undecided....so somewhere, all that advertising and money changed a mere 5% of minds polled.


Let's do the scary math; it's simple logic. 2 million votes x 5% swing somewhere=100,000 votes. $45 million (we'll take the conservative estimate) to influence a total of 100,000 votes is $450/vote! Now, multiply that by similar state house races, senatorial races, representative races...and over all 50 states. One might conclude it's disgusting overkill and a waste of resources...


Yes, political stakes are high but it's quite apparent that no where is anyone questioning the ROI. When there is that sort of bottomless financial resource available, why bother being "responsible". Given this behavior just to get elected, could there be any question why most politicians (regardless of party) have a hard time being "responsible" after they've been elected?


Bottom Line: challenge builds character; we embrace the difficulty and reality of the current business envirnoment. Times are tougher; let's use strategy...and focus at getting an improved ROI with realistic budget resources you have...we're up for it. We call it more bang for your buck!

*of course, if you have unlimited, political style resources at your disposal, we'd be more than happy to help as well.