Written by Dave Huguenel, Managing Director
Writers Note: The first half of this article was written on July 1st. The rest was written on July 24th.
JULY 1, 2024
The 2024 election cycle is a special one for me. This year marks twenty years since I first got involved in politics. That’s right, in 2004, I joined the LSU College Republicans and that singular decision is what led me to being a campaign manager for a State Representative race in my hometown, to moving across the country to work on big races in places like New Jersey and Oregon and working on my first presidential campaign in 2020 before finally finding my home here at Go BIG Media Inc.
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve tried to take some time to reflect on what I’ve learned over the last twenty years. What secrets to winning have I unlocked? What insights have I gained that have aged like fine wine?
Well, after mulling it over and studiously pouring through old campaign plans, fond memories, exhilarating wins and debilitating losses I have found the one piece of advice that every campaign should embrace… What I’m about to share is not only profound, but it’s something that every campaign faces yet fails to tackle honestly.
The biggest key to winning an election is this: I DON’T KNOW
That’s right, the one thing your campaign plan is missing right now is akin to getting that emoji shrug in your texts from a friend when you ask them what their plans are tomorrow. But before you shrug this blog post off, just hear me out.
Politics is a business that pays to pretend to know. Political consultants, pundits, elected officials and candidates are all expected to know the answers (and in some cases they’re paid to know) so the reality is we find ourselves constantly surrounded by people that pretend to know what the future of a campaign cycle holds only to find out that they were just guessing.
JULY 24, 2024
OK… so since I started writing this there was the fallout of the first presidential debate, an attempted assassination and the President of the United States announced that he is no longer running for office. Safe to say, those are all things I didn't know were going to happen three weeks ago. Each individual incident had their own impact on the political landscape in their own right, and combined they have guaranteed that we are probably entering the most unpredictable election cycle in my twenty year career.
While this amount of uncertainty might seem paralyzing for a campaign, it’s time like these that a campaign plan that is flexible for a changing environment is extremely important. Every campaign should be auditing their campaign plans to make sure that any planned communications, polling and even fundraising strategies make sense for the months ahead.
Here at Go BIG, we pride ourselves on being able to adapt and move quickly. Our team of graphic designers and video editors are second to none when it comes to delivering a professional product at a lightning fast pace. Whether you need a fast graphic, a new commercial or just some good ol’ fashioned advice on your media strategy, the team over here at Go BIG is ready to work with you during these tumultuous next few months.
It’s also important to remember that the political world changed in the span of about 21 days this month and we still have several months until the election. Given the amount of campaigning left to be done, every campaign plan should also be prepared for more earth shaking and campaign altering events.
As to what those events might be? I don’t know…
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