Republicans say their 2014 campaign victories are proof they’ve made up ground in the battle with Democrats for digital supremacy, but consultants say they’ll need to continue cultivating a pool of talent to make sure they’re ready to compete at the presidential level in 2016.
Campaigns boosted their commitment to their online strategies, treating them as integral parts of their campaigns, rather than add-ons, and the GOP now has access to the same software and tools as President Obama’s successful 2008 and 2012 campaigns.
Part of the proof of the GOP’s gain was the level at which digital strategy was discussed, said Anton Vuljaj, director of advertising at IMGE, a consulting firm in Alexandria. He said in 2012, online message conversations were handled by communications directors, but this year those conversations often involved campaign managers themselves.
“I found there were more people interested in having the conversation in 2014. We did a lot of calls with either the consultant on the campaign and the campaign manager who actually wanted to know more than they did in 2012. They acknowledged it was an important aspect of the campaign,” he said.
But analysts also said Republicans still have work to do in getting tech-savvy people to join their campaigns, and getting buy-in from candidates to try out-of-the-box digital tools or strategies.
“The real question is ’Are campaigns making smart hires?’ and ’Are they supporting those smart hires?’” said Matthew Dybwad, co-founder of CRAFT | Media/Digital. “It’s one thing to go out and hire the name of whatever firm elected the guy last time, check that box and check out, not talk to them and not support them. It’s another thing to actually believe in the technology and become involved.”
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He saw some improvement on this this cycle, saying that big Republican names such as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky or Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, seriously invested in online campaigning for the first time.
“I think if you look at the average Republican digital presence, it was more than up to snuff,” he said. “You had leaders in the party making real investments in people and technology I think you saw a lot of dividends there.
Despite the Republicans’ improvements in using technology in 2014, Mr. Vuljaj said the GOP success on election night should not be used as an excuse to slack off between now and the next presidential election in 2016.
“I’m more worried that people will think that ’Republicans did well, therefore everything is caught up.’ I don’t think that’s the case,” he said. “There are a lot of areas we still need to improve, I’m a little worried about everyone saying ’we’ve caught up’ when really we need to keep moving forward.”
Mr. Vuljaj said that each of the 2016 Republican presidential candidates will need to field his or her own digital team — but that he’s confident the party has the talent to do that.
“Coming out of this cycle, there’s a lot of digital folks who are going to be in the mix to join one of many GOP candidates who are going to be jumping it, and they’re all pretty skilled,” he said. “I feel pretty confident that the folks that any of these presidential candidates will hire are very knowledgeable.”
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He also said he’s “optimistic” about the digital infrastructure being built by the Republican National Committee, which will hand over those tools to whoever is chosen as the GOP nominee.
• Jacqueline Klimas can be reached at jklimas@washingtontimes.com.
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