VOTE SAFE
CALIFORNIA
CASE
STUDY.
Context:
Mozaic led earned media efforts, in coordination with the California Secretary of State’s communications team, along with strategic advertising placement support for the 2020 gubernatorial recall election. Specifically, we provided non-partisan voter outreach engagement and voter education.
Approach:
In light of the confusing nature of the 2020 California gubernatorial recall election,
combined with the fact that the last statewide recall election happened nearly 20 years ago in 2003, California’s Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber, issued a Request for Proposals to qualifying firms to plan and execute an integrated, non-partisan, public relations,
voter education and outreach campaign using the Vote Safe California brand as the vehicle. In partnership with Ethnic Media Services, our team set out to leverage our earned media and community relations expertise to proactively engage diverse and hard-to-reach communities across the Vote Safe California campaign’s priority counties throughout the state in the lead up to the recall election. Serving as a close and consistent thought partner to Secretary of State Dr. Weber’s Deputy Secretary of Communications, we created an integrated earned media and crisis mitigation plan - adapting and collaborating quickly with internal teams and external community-based partners. This coordinated approach allowed us to successfully push back against potential criticism from election experts calling for a rigorous audit with less than one month until election day.
Outcome:
Our efforts resulted in a number of successfully placed news stories such as this piece in the Fresno Bee. Additionally, our team lined up dozens of media opportunities for Dr. Weber, while at the same time promoting the work grassroots campaign partners were carrying out, on the ground in their communities, to better educate voters, push back against misinformation, and encourage people to cast their vote. During this relatively short period (six weeks in total), we secured 91 broadcast and online news mentions, featuring Dr. Weber and our community based organization partners.