The Candidate

Before becoming Governor of Texas, Rick Perry served 2 years as Lt. Governor, having been elected to that position after a hard-fought campaign in 1998. Back in 1997, as incumbent Lt. Governor Bob Bullock was set to announce that he was not seeking re-election, then Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry became an official candidate in the 1998 race for Lt. Governor.

Rick Perry focused on core ideas and beliefs during his campaign for Lt. Governor. His strong positive message of bringing safe streets, the best public schools in America, and economic opportunity to Texas captured the audience at his announcement.

However, at that point, less than 10% of voters were aware of Rick Perry, his accomplishments, and his plans. In the months that followed, the Rick Perry campaign needed to raise a record amount of money and then spend that money efficiently and effectively to spread his message to voters across Texas.

Print Ads

Due to the uneven quality of newspaper printing, this is one of the most difficult mediums for which to design. To overcome this problem, John Doner & Associates' design team carefully researches the specifications of each newspaper that runs our ads. This information coupled with our understanding of the printing process, gives us the ability to optimize our designs to achieve the best print quality possible out of this difficult medium.

During the Perry campaign, we were called upon on a number of occasions to design and place ads in newspapers across the state. Ads often needed to be produced and shipped in 24 hours or less.

Results & Analysis

Most of us already know how the story ends. On election night, Rick Perry had risen from less than 10% name identification, beat the odds, and captured 50.4% of the vote to defeat John Sharp.

Afterward, at the traditional “post-mortem” meeting, John Doner & Associates presented analysis of the campaign’s extensive voter contact mail and phone bank efforts. The data was gathered, analyzed, and displayed in a series of charts for better understanding.

Fundraising

Since the Lt. Governor in Texas presides over the powerful state senate, interests from both parties and on both ends of the political spectrum had a lot at stake. In fact, one of the first powers that the new Lt. Governor would exercise would be to appoint committee chairmen who would control the flow of legislation.

Perry's opponent, John Sharp, was set to receive millions of dollars from personal injury trial lawyers, unions, and other liberal special interests. The Perry campaign set into motion a plan to raise a multi-million dollar war chest of its own.

The first written communication in that plan was a business-quality major donor letter designed and produced by John Doner & Associates and mailed to a list that our firm provided. John Doner & Associates executed additional targeted, successful fundraising initiatives throughout the campaign.

Signage & Push Card

These important materials are often seen by more voters than any other type of printed material used in campaigns. And with the amount of money that the Rick Perry campaign was set to spend on these materials, it was essential the design and printing be top agency-quality.

John Doner & Associates was selected to design and produce these materials as well as other collateral printed materials throughout the campaign. In every case we produced creative designs and high-quality printing on time and within the proposed budget.

Voter Contact Mail

In recent years, due to rapid developments in database marketing technology, more information than ever is available about individual voters and their likely preferences. And because voter contact mail is driven by lists, it is now more than ever the most efficient and targetable form of campaign advertising.

John Doner & Associates, a leader in campaign database technology, was selected out of a number of Texas and national agencies to design, produce, and mail Rick Perry's voter contact pieces to the targeted lists that we compiled.
1005 Congress Ave., Ste. 580, Austin, TX 78701
Phone: 512-476-4000
FAX: 512-474-1641