PROJECT:
Jacob Householder State Senate District 34 Campaign.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
This project placed me in the Jacob Householder Campaign as one of his main strategists. Being a Strategic Communications major I set out to do the following:
-SWOT analysis of Jacob and his primary challenger, Doug Ricks.
-Working with the candidate on his messaging.
-Finding and obtaining endorsements from prominent members in Senate District 34.
-Working with the core heads of the candidate’s campaign to focus efforts on precincts that we can win.
-Working with the campaign manger to ensure that all fundraising efforts have a specific goal.
PROJECTED PROJECT TIMELINE:
March:
-Focus on campaign promises.
-Focus on messaging.
-Obtain endorsements. (media attention)
-Have precinct chairs ready with messaging supplies.
-Work on Fundraising
April:
-Major media attention.
-Events.
-Canvassing.
May:
-Work until election day.
-Project is over if we lose and gets even harder if we win.
**A majority of items changed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
SKILLS HONED:
Video Production:
A problem that I was confronted with right away was name recognition. I needed something that would do multiple things at once. I needed to develop Jacob’s name within the Senate District, it needed to be done quickly and I also needed his ideas to be published throughout the District.
A video ad was that “thing.” Below I have attached one of the videos that I filmed of Jacob.
Graphic Design and Writing:
In conjunction with Facebook Ad videos, I wanted to ensure that our literature matched the messages that were being spread with the videos.
To do that I knew we would need to drop literature off across the District. The campaign manager, the candidate and I met together and discussed the design and messaging of the literature.
At that meeting I took a piece of paper and pen and drew out how the literature should be designed and asked for feedback from the campaign manager and candidate. It was a back and forth process.
The writing happened at the same meeting. I knew it was important to keep the messages short and direct. It was also important to make Jacob personable by sharing a little about him.
Below are the final designs from what I drew and what we came up with from our meeting
Team Collaboration:
One of the first things that I worked on with the campaign manager was organizing volunteers into leadership positions and then teams.
The campaign manager set up daily meetings that I attended with the hope to make sure everyone was on the same page. It took all of us, not just one of us, to get Jacob’s campaign up and off the ground.
The team aspect helped me refine and improve the following skills within each of our meetings:
-Interpersonal communication.
-Adaptability.
-Researching.
-Persuasion.
The summation of these skills can be found in the phone call scripts that were used for making calls. All of our discussions as a team were brought together to create this document. Below, I will attach two pictures of the document that we used for making phone calls.
TIME REPORT:
MARCH:
Wednesday the 4th 1 hour. Met the candidate.
Thursday the 5th 9:45-12:00 3HRS and 15 minutes. Communicated with the candidate via text.
Friday the 6th 11-11:45 45 minutes. Spoke with campaign Tori Tracy.
Saturday the 7th 6:50-7:20 30 minutes. Emailed Candidate and campaign manager.
Sunday the 8th 1PM-3PM 2 hours. Meeting with campaign manager to discuss campaign team, issues and overview of campaign calendar.
Monday the 9th 9-9:45AM 45 minutes. Made Duties and Responsibilities sheets for the Core Chairs.
4:15-6:30PM 1 hour and 45 minutes. Core Chair meeting. Debate practice with the candidate.
10:30PM-11:25 55minutes. Worked on the to-do list. Created communication needs with current Core Chairs.
Tuesday the 10th 6:50AM-7:28AM 38 minutes. Texted out assignments. Added to the Google Doc with Tori. Answered questions from Core Chairs.
9:45AM-10:50AM 1HR and 5 minutes. Texted back and forth with Tori. Studied district map, read local news and added to our Google Doc.
5:48PM-6:39PM 51 minutes. Reviewed maps to find out towns within the district. Made an outline for all 26 precinct chairs.
8PM-11:42PM 3 hours and 42 minutes. Worked on volunteer structure. Debate practice with the candidate and branding/image discussion.
Wednesday the 11th 12:30PM-2:42PM 2HRS and 12 minutes. BYUI podcast prep with the candidate.
3:30PM-6:30PM 3HRS. Worked with Tori on overall calendar to the end of April, discussed communications team structure, worked with her on the calendar, emphasized flaws in the campaign, discussed precinct chairs, trained Kayli as the scheduler and helped Bryson with the volunteers.
Thursday the 12th 4:20-6PM 1HR and 40 minutes. Met with Tori and Bryson to go over Campaign flaws, fundraiser and volunteers.
Friday the 13th 8:45AM-9:55AM 1HR and 10 minutes. Went through campaign emails and spoke with Tori via text.
10:30AM-12:30PM 2HRS. Communicating back and forth between the campaign manager and the team.
4PM-5:25PM 1HR and 25 mins. Meeting with candidate to discuss state of the campaign and potentially quit.
7:41PM-11:09PM 3HRS and 28 minutes. Drove to the SE part of the district and back!
Saturday the 14th 10AM-4:37PM. 6HRS and 37 minutes. Made first promo candidate video with Jacob and Hannah and guitar guy. Made literature for the campaign with Jacob and Tori.
5:50PM-7PM 1HR and 10 minutes. Campaign fundraiser. Dry run of a fundraiser while giving feedback on the candidates answers to questions. Also debated the candidate as Doug Ricks.
Monday the 16th 11AM-12:30PM 1HR and 30 minutes. Meeting with campaign manager to discuss changing campaign strategy with coronavirus updates from federal and state governments.
4PM-5PM 1HR. Meeting with candidate and volunteer chair to discuss changes to the the campaign strategy.
Monday the 23rd 2PM-2:40PM 40 minutes. Discussed with campaign manager how to get the first video up and out on Facebook.
Wednesday the 25th Gov Little Covid announcement. 54MINS. https://youtu.be/QplpsR90Zn8
Month Total Time: 43HRS 56MINS.
APRIL:
Wednesday the 15th Gov Little COVID update. 46MINS. https://youtu.be/ewJeHuAblUQ
Month Total Time: 46MINS.
Two Months Total Time: 44HRS 42MINS.
MAY:
Tuesday the 12th 10:45AM-11:48AM 1HR and 3MINS. Made phone calls on behalf of the candidate.
Wednesday the 13th 2:40PM-3:31PM 51 MINS. Made phone calls on behalf of the candidate.
Wednesday the 29th 6:30PM-7:30PM 1HR. Gathered all the information necessary for my slideshow. Video recorded myself using screen-o-matic several times in preparation to send to my mentor, Professor Walton.
Month Total Time: 2HR 54MINS
Three Months Total Time: 47HRS 36MINS.
JULY:
Wednesday the 1st 7PM-10:06PM 3HRS 5MINS. Made a new introduction video, wrote the blog post and transferred material from my previous powerpoint to this blog for the senior showcase.
Month Total Time: 3HRS.
Four Months Total Time: 50HRS 42MINS.
SPECIAL THANKS
Dear Sister Andra Smith Hansen,
Thank you for inspiring me to follow my passions and for becoming one of my friends. I also want to thank you for teaching me about perspective and professionalism this semester. I appreciate you sending me out into the workforce better prepared than I ever could have been. My experiences with you have refined me and caused me to become a better person.
I sincerely wish you the best in your career and with your family. You are an incredible person and educator. I hope we keep in touch 🙂
Dear Sister Susan Walton,
Thank you for opening my world to the world of Public Relations. I have come to love what you teach and was so happy to make PR my mini emphasis. I wish I had longer to learn from you because the skills you have taught me have me excited for the future! I hope to continue to use a lot of what you have taught me as I head back into the professional workforce. You are a true gem that we have all come to love and admire.
Dear Brother Brent Bean,
Thank you for your class on Conflict Management. There were so many things that clicked as I applied what you taught in my personal and professional relationships. I will never forget that class because it has changed me for forever. That chapter on forgiveness and reconciliation is legendary. Thank you for all your stories and laughs. You are the best!
Dear Brother Lane Williams,
Thank you for sharing your knowledge on researching. I came to love researching as I sat in your classes. I didn’t always understand everything right away, however, you pointed me in the right direction. I hope you know that your research class has opened so many doors for me. Thank you so much for your jokes in class as well. I hope you know that you are one of the most fun professors I have ever had. Thank you for making the class experience so interesting!