Katie Wilson for Seattle
Rebuking billionaires to elect a champion for everyday people
The Challenge
Katie Wilson, a progressive voice for renters, workers, and everyday Seattleites, was up against a billionaire-backed incumbent, Mayor Bruce Harrell, and getting outspent 5 to 1. Grassroots supporters, with the backing of progressive groups and labor unions, quickly stood up an independent expenditure to support Katie in the final months of the campaign. We were on board from day one.
The Strategy
We wrote and produced a 30-second spot that tapped into voters' frustrations with corporations and billionaires trying to buy elections and power, introducing Katie Wilson as the leader with the courage to break that cycle and make Seattle more affordable. In the final weeks of the election, we ran the ad on broadcast TV and across digital video platforms to ensure maximum impact. We also executed an impactful texting program that acted as both a fundraising tool and a persuasion tactic.
The Outcome
Despite being outspent 5 to 1, we helped Katie Wilson overcame the odds, mounting a come-from-behind victory, erasing a 7-point election night deficit to win by 0.73% once all ballots were tallied in what the Seattle Times called “the closest mayoral contest in over a decade.” Our contrastive independent expenditure effort proved that Seattle’s not for sale.
5 to 1
We helped build a grassroots Independent Expenditure program to propel Katie to victory as the progressive challenger running against a billionaire-backed incumbent mayor, which outspent us 5 to 1.
$125,071
We launched a grassroots website that raised $125,071 in donations to fund a small but mighty program to make the case for replacing Mayor Bruce Harrell with Katie Wilson.
0.73%
We built a website, raised thousands of dollars from grassroots donors, and crafted a coordinated media plan that spanned broadcast TV, online advertising, and targeted texting to help Katie secure a 0.73% victory.
Rinse & Repeat
Year after year, election after election, the same politicians run for office, and the wealthy back them to keep their taxes low. But Katie Wilson was a different kind of candidate. A champion for renters, a ceaseless fighter for workers, and someone who will fight for every Seattleite, we only had the funding for one ad to communicate why voters should choose Katie. Our ad delivered.
The branding for the independent expenditure campaign had to be distinct from Katie’s campaign, but we also needed to be clear in who we supported. Drawing on yellow and orange accent colors, we chose two tones of blue that reflected progressive roots and the iconic Puget Sound that defines the city.
A grassroots site for a grassroots movement.
At every step of the way, we knew we wanted the identity of this independent expenditure to reflect the identity of the candidate we were supporting – for the people, not the powerful, new and hopeful, with no shortage of real plans, not platitudes.
The Katie Wilson For An Affordable Seattle website was designed to give supporters who had already given the maximum amount of money they could to the candidate a place to channel their support ahead of Election Day. The central message of our website was that Seattle must be all-in for Katie to have a shot at defeating the billionaire-backed incumbent.
Persuasion meets donations.
Over the course of the campaign, we executed two distinct but equally important texting campaigns. First, using a targeted list of likely donors, we sent a series of messages to help generate donations to the independent expenditure. Second, in the final weeks of the election, we sent a series of texts that told voters how close the polling was and reminded them to return their ballots. Those late ballots broke for Katie, who is now serving as the 58th Mayor of Seattle.
“With a short timeline to raise money and stand up a strategic voter contact program, we brought in Empirical Media, and they delivered on what we needed every step of the way — from brand identity design, to fundraising, to conversation-changing ads that helped deliver an upset victory for Katie Wilson.”
— Stephen Paolini, PAC Director