Subject: Fwd: Email 1 of 2 (BACKGROUND FOR JP)
From: Cheryl Mills <[email-masked]>
To: John Podesta <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 06:20:07 -0500

John

Below were Wendy's thoughts on the polling list memo Robby prepared.  

In particularly in asking her how she would do branding, I asked if she could ride any polling that was done by team - she asked the nature of that polling before she could opine and I shared his polling list memo ($2.1M) one. 

cdm

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Wendy Clark <[email-masked]>
> Date: December 9, 2014 at 11:53:21 AM EST
> To: Cheryl Mills <[email-masked]>
> Subject: Email 1 of 2
> 
> Cheryl,
> 
> I wanted to give you immediate reaction to the polling and research materials you sent yesterday. 
> 
> ---------
> 
> At a high-level, I believe the plan that Robby has outlined is robust and appropriate to an ongoing polling approach. Additionally, I believe it can have utility from a brand positioning and tracking perspective. I see the quantitative polling piece as an ongoing tracker that will allow us to understand results on key imagery metrics that will inform ongoing work. 
> 
> That said, there are particular aspects I have questions around. 
> 
> 1. While I believe in the mix of online and telephone surveying, I question how representative the home phone population are to our necessary target reach. Additionally, we should think hard about polling calls to mobile phones, not sure how socially acceptable that is. As a point of reference, Coke's continuous tracking survey fielded 365 days a year is all handled online. As a point of input I have asked a friend at AT&T for home phone penetration and attrition numbers so we can better consider. 
> 
> 2. I think the ongoing online discussion boards are a great idea. I have this in place and use it often with a firm called Communispace -- I had mentioned this when we spoke. I'd be interested in understanding the recommended firm for this and having a dialog around the methodology. 
> 
> 3. For the qualitative groups, I would really like to engage/lead these, the methodology, the desired outcomes, the firm that would lead, etc. These will be material to brand positioning and there's a great opportunity to not duplicate efforts. 
> 
> 4. I'd also seek involvement in the engagement of an analytics firm. The materials indicate Blue Labs. I'm familiar with Bluefin Labs which is an exceptional analytics firm. Not sure if this is the same. More broadly, among our analytics deliverables we should be able to tie the movement in key attributes/imagery to likelihood to vote. This is a key need of the analytics model which can then be tracked continuously through the polling. 
> 
> 5. I recognize that sub groupings will follow this initial push out. That said, understanding multicultural voters -- unacculturated, acculturated and bi-cultural Hispanics, African Americans and multicultural Millennials as a starting point -- will be important. Also other clusters are certain to materialize -- women/Moms, community activists, youth/millennial, etc. We will want this understanding post exploratory to truly inform actions/content once a campaign is underway. 
> 
> 6. The media consultant at GMMB appears to be an earned media expert (vs paid). Would want to confirm this. I am familiar with GMMB with my work with the American Beverage Association, they've done a good job there. On paid media I would want to leverage a general market media firm. 
> 
> 7. On the handful of mentions RE branding and design (website, etc) I agree with the input -- eg branding's role.  That said we'll want to lift the role of branding to overarch all decisions and outputs under the moniker of Everything Communicates. So being on-brand will be critical and a starting point for everything we do and execute. 
> 
> 8. On the production of any materials logo/mark, exploratory or announcement videos, website development and all associated content, I would want to lead these aspects. I believe the exploratory materials will be judged as the equivalent of announcement materials. They must set the tone, create momentum, be shareworthy... I could keep going. They're really important. $45k for videos is a bit tight in my mind, but again, we can be creative on this. 
> 
> 9. A final thought on research and measurement. As a basis we need to be asking all of these questions against "the ideal leader" and then in reference to our candidate. The qualitative learning on the ideal candidate and our candidate starting point informs the ongoing imagery that the polling would track which informs our messaging and content adjustments in realtime. 
> 
> 10. Ok, I lied, now a real final thought. One area of exploratory research we need is to understand the role and importance of a movement. Change was a movement and BO became the leader of that movement.  On our discovery we need to probe for this in terms of what the ideal candidate represents and the learnings around voters mood, desires, actions wanted, etc. and then spend time thinking about the packaging of the position and whether it can/should be a movement. Movements are important and welcomed by Millennials particularly. There is something for us to truly understand and potentially leverage in a big way, IF the data supports. This also helps to deflect the negativity toward her versus the movement. It's an interesting strategy but again has to be authentically true of her/her agenda. 
> 
> I really look forward to engaging directly with Robby. I believe we are complementary in talent set and can create a win/win approach (and outcome) together. I like/support his thinking in these documents. 
> 
> I owe you email 2 on the communication/cadence for me here that I know will inform the timing of my meeting with Robby. 
> 
> Working on that shortly. 
> 
> Thanks. Wendy
> 
> 
> 
>