Archive for category: Public Affairs

Today, we are launching Delve with the aim of becoming the premier global source of competitive intelligence for public affairs.

The premise of Delve is simple: In today’s fast-moving policy and business environment, what you don’t know can hurt you. Traditional public affairs efforts are no longer enough to achieve your goals if you do not have an information advantage over your opponents and other stakeholders. Competitive intelligence is a crucial component to addressing political, policy and business challenges facing companies and industries today.

By gaining an information advantage over your opponents, you can successfully frame the discussion on your terms. Delve’s competitive intelligence services provide the foundation of research, monitoring, and analysis you need to respond as the landscape shifts and evolves. Our services integrate seamlessly into your existing public affairs and policy teams, but if you need help turning our insights into action, we can do that too.

We began the journey to today’s launch five and a half years ago entirely by accident. Clients approached me with a need unmet by the marketplace: effective, actionable insights for their campaign and public affairs efforts. So I started digging on their behalf. Thanks to some amazing early adopters, we’ve kept digging for these past five and a half years.

What started with me on the living room couch has grown into a thriving office of whip-smart researchers. We have become a cohesive team dedicated to delivering breakthrough insights to our clients by digging deeper than anyone else, catching the small details that can have a big impact, and constantly innovating to better serve our clients. Which leads us to today — the end of that accidental beginning.

I am joined in this launch by Lloyd Miller, who many of you have gotten to know as a relentless researcher over the past several years. A veteran of campaigns from coast to coast — the Florida legislature, Meg Whitman for Governor, Tim Pawlenty for President, and others — Lloyd was instrumental to our successful research operation in over 26 political races last cycle, not to mention numerous corporate engagements. He will help lead our existing team of research analysts, and as we move into 2016, you can expect more exciting additions to our team (so stay tuned!).

“Barack Obama is allergic to talking about his national security strategy,” Delve CEO Jeff Berkowitz told Newsmax TV today during a discussion of how Obama fumbled the Bergdahl situation.

“You’re going to see more [Democrats] try to break away and try and save themselves, but it’s a sinking life raft off a sinking ship,” Berkowitz continued in his conversation with Newsmax TV’s Ed Berliner as they assessed what steps can be taken in p.r. crises such as this one.

Turning to the broader challenge of combating terrorism, Berkowitz noted, “This is going to be an ongoing fight for a very long time into the future, and to downplay it is to make the American people ill-prepared to meet that threat and understand what we need to do to fight terrorism. You know, President Bush was constantly explaining the threat and reminding the American people what we need to do to meet that threat. Barack Obama is allergic to talking about his national security strategy.”

As Berkowitz explained above, long-term challenges require not just long-term strategies for addressing those challenges, but a communications and message plan to support those strategies. Your stakeholders — in any President’s case, the American people and Congressional leaders — must understand what the challenges are and how you plan to address them. You cannot expect to tell them once and consider that job done. Constant discussion and reminders are necessary to maintain support for your strategies.

For more information on how Delve can help you develop strategies and messaging to succeed in your challenges, click here.

Reuters talks to Delve CEO Jeff Berkowitz about the potential impact of early (and incomplete) exit poll data leaking before the polls close.

Television networks face a new challenge in covering this year’s excruciatingly close presidential election: prevent closely guarded exit poll results from leaking onto Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms.

The major TV news networks agreed to shield early exit poll data suggesting who is leading in a state until the state’s polls close. That means no tweeting exit polls, posting on Facebook, or re-tweeting figures reported by others. …

Election officials worry that leaks could discourage people from voting if they think the race in their state is already decided, depressing the vote count and distorting the results. In 1985, Congress extracted a promise from the major TV networks to refrain from using exit polls to project a winner in a particular state, or to characterize who is leading, while voting continues in that area. …

If early results become public, “it can be a real problem,” said Jeff Berkowitz, a Republican strategist who runs Berkowitz Public Affairs. “For somebody who’s got seven things on their list to do that day, and if they’re already being told the election is over, are they really going to prioritize voting over the other six?”

Read the full article here.

Delve CEO Jeff Berkowitz tells USA Today how “technology has revolutionized the age-old practice” of political research.

Technology has revolutionized the age-old practice, said Jeff Berkowitz, who oversaw research for the Republican National Committee and Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign and now has his own firm.

In 2004, the RNC’s trackers trailed the Democratic candidates through Iowa and New Hampshire and sent their tapes via FedEx back to headquarters at the end of each week, where they were watched and key moments carefully cataloged, Berkowitz said. The process took weeks.

“Now video trackers can edit on their MacBooks as soon as it’s shot and, using their wireless connection, post it in 15 minutes,” he said. Since the advent of YouTube, Twitter and other social media, a candidate’s gaffe in New Hampshire can go global in minutes.

Read the full article here.

Delve CEO Jeff Berkowitz assesses for Politico how the media horde can pull campaigns off message if they aren’t careful.

The unofficial chatter means that campaigns are spending a lot less time focusing on policy than on the insult of the day.

“In the silly season, it will take extreme discipline for (Romney’s campaign) to stay focused, because the media reacts to thoughtful substance like a vampire reacts to garlic, mirrors and sunlight,” quipped Jeff Berkowitz, a former RNC research director who worked on Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 presidential run. “The campaigns are definitely responsible for what they pick to drive.”

“That doesn’t mean the media won’t try and pull candidates off topic incessantly. And there is always the temptation to take advantage of the latest kerfuffle for the momentary gain of winning the day. You just need to make sure that win helps advance your overall narrative and framework and isn’t distraction.”

Read the full article here.