The Environmental Defense Fund hired us to acquire 100,000 signatures pledging to vote for climate action in the midterm elections.

270 developed an intensive online acquisition program on petition platforms like Change.org, direct response ads on Pandora and other sites, and social media and search ads.

270 Strategies partnered with EDF to launch a new nonpartisan campaign called “Defend Our Future.” We developed the campaign brand and website, then recruited, hired, and trained grassroots organizers, placing them at major universities in Colorado. We ran a comprehensive and optimized email and digital ads program, and launched social media assets. We also had to think big picture: Rather than just hitting the goal and walking away, we wanted to learn more about what would motivate young voters for future elections. To that end, we ran an experiment in partnership with the Analyst Institute to test the effectiveness of climate messaging in voter turnout versus standard GOTV appeals.

We helped EDF grow its list of pledge signers from zero to more than 125,000 in three months and then cultivated that list to gain more pledge signers and turn out voters in a tight election. We managed to not only find the right messaging but to reflect it in all advertising. Advertising helped us achieve a steep “hockey stick” ramp, which in coordination with the email program and social media growth helped us meet our goal two weeks early and exceed all expectations. In the end, we generated 125,145 total pledges, with 120,106 coming from digital media.