Bob Smith for Congress
Marketing Strategy, Website Design & SEO, Content Creation, Email & SMS Marketing, PPC & Paid Ads
Industry
Political campaign, California's Central Coast
In eight weeks
2.7M views
1.9M
Reached across five social platforms, email and the website
+175%
Instagram followers, from 209 to 574
3.3x
Weekly website visitors at the peak, against the week before we started
469
Posts published across five platforms in two months
94
Videos edited and delivered in under two months
69.7%
Open rate on the final email push
<2¢
Per YouTube view, across 316,917 views
15.6%
Click rate on Google Search ads
0%
Gmail spam rate, every reported day from Oct. 22 through Election Day
Meta, Google Ads, SocialPilot, GA4, Google Postmaster and Brevo, Sept. 6 to Nov. 3, 2026. Reach and views add weekly figures together.
Instagram, before and after.
471,654
views in the eight weeks after we started
13,785 in the eight weeks before
Sept. 7: we start
Cumulative views on Bob Smith's Instagram account by week, Jul. 13 to Nov. 1, 2026. Source: SocialPilot.
Navy first, white second, gold kept for the moments that count.
Navy #00205B
White #FFFFFF
Gold #DFB758
Eight weeks. One studio behind every channel.
Mission
Bob Smith, a retired U.S. Navy Commander with 26 years of service, ran for Congress in California's 24th District, which spans Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties.
Challenge
With about eight weeks to Election Day, the campaign needed its digital work running at full speed: a steady stream of content, ads that reached voters in the district, email that landed in the inbox, and a website that worked in English and Spanish.
Process
We ran it as one system, built inside the campaign's own brand standards. The website, graphics, social content and scheduling, email, texting, ads, photo and video shoots, video editing and PR all came from one studio, and a person approved every send and publish before it went out.
Everything we ran.
Marketing strategy
One comprehensive marketing strategy for the whole campaign, and the management to carry it out across the website, graphics, social, email, SMS and ads, with every channel working from the same plan.
Website
A full audit of the site, then a steady run of upgrades: new homepage sections, including an animated voting record and a Meet Bob video, a site-wide motion layer, a sticky donate bar on phones, security hardening, every live form connected to email, SEO and bug checks with the fixes made, and an election night live results page. Then a Spanish twin for every English page, 25 pages built and live in one afternoon.
Graphics
Social posts, stories, print and display ads and event invitations, built on the campaign's brand standards.
Social content
A reel-first plan, posted when Bob's audience was actually scrolling, with long videos cut down from their own retention data and covers built for the grid. In English and Spanish.
Social management
One calendar across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and X: 469 posts published in two months, most of them video, with every scheduled batch read back after loading.
Email
Segmented lists built from the district's voter file of nearly 450,000 registered voters, a staged warm-up, and donation tracking on every donate link. From Oct. 22 through Election Day, Gmail's spam rate held at zero.
SMS
A texting plan for 38,017 cell numbers, drawn from 126,937 voters, with picture-message creative for the campaign's peer-to-peer program.
Ads
A five-figure ad budget, managed across Meta, Google Search and YouTube and aimed at voters in the district, with weekly spend caps and a daily check. YouTube views came in at under two cents each. We also designed online display ads for local news sites.
Photo and video shoots
Six shoot days on a professional camera with a gimbal and dedicated audio: 102 video clips and 112 photos, including the campaign's headshot. iPhone video covered the same-day moments.
Video editing
94 finished videos in under two months: interview clips, Reels, ads in three formats and long-form pieces, some with animated graphics. A 58-minute episode became 15 clips in one evening, and the offshore wind video drew 26,423 Facebook views with no paid promotion.
PR and print
A press list of 134 outlets, a press release sent to newsroom contacts, and print ads for local news outlets, including a full-page ad in Coastal View News.
Built in the campaign's own look.
Reels and endorsements in English and Spanish, through election night.
