Winning Connections Takes 14 “Pollie” Awards

Winning Connections Outperforms Phone Competitors for the “Oscars of Political Consulting”

Washington, DC — Winning Connections won fourteen awards for its phone campaigns from the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) at the premier annual event for political professionals. This year’s competition, held this past weekend in Napa, California, recognized achievements in public affairs campaigns, and Winning Connections was recognized in 10 of the 17 phone categories it entered. WC garnered Pollies for a wide range of programs, including early get-out-the vote and integrated phone/e-mail campaigns to a hotline helping Katrina victims and advocacy calls that helped defeat Governor Schwarzenegger’s statewide ballot initiatives. Winning Connections took away more Pollies than any of the other phone firms receiving awards. In fact, WC has won more Pollies than its competitors in six out of the past seven years.

“We’re proud of the innovative programs we’ve been doing on behalf of groups like the CSEA Schools, ACORN, the American Diabetes Association and other organizations all over the United States,” said Winning Connections President John Jameson. “We did ground-breaking work in early voting efforts and integrated phone and e-mail campaigns, both of which are becoming more important all the time.” Jameson added, “I’m also gratified that we were able to help everyone from Katrina victims and school kids in California to municipalities wanting to build safer roads and bridges.”

Winning Connections’ award-winning programs included:

• A last-minute get-out-the-vote effort that helped a win a narrow victory in heavily Republican Cobb County Georgia for a tax increase to fund transportation improvements.

• In that same local ballot contest, a call that identified and persuaded supporters, establishing the foundation for our successful integrated phone and e-mail program.

• A program for Katrina victims, in which we quickly set up a toll-free hotline to help homeowners obtain mortgage relief. We worked with our client, ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) to develop a phone script aimed at obtaining vital information from victims needing mortgage assistance.

• Another program for ACORN in which we delivered emergency calls to Houston residents informing them of the official call for voluntary evacuation ahead of Hurricane Rita.

• A call that earned the Pollie for “most innovative use of automated phones,” in which WC delivered customized calls using the voices of mayors in 23 Denver-area jurisdictions.

• A phone program that mobilized absentee voters on behalf of a coalition of labor groups opposing Governor Schwarzenegger’s propositions 74, 75 and 76, all of which were defeated.

Winning Connections is one of the nation’s leading political consulting firms specializing in grassroots advocacy and direct voter contact. WC has delivered 1,300 programs targeting, persuading and mobilizing voters to influence policy and win elections. Since its founding in 1996, Winning Connections has served advocacy groups and associations, political parties and candidates, and corporations in 48 states and in the United Kingdom.