This lovely animation (above) created by my colleague illustrates the rebrand of turnout-focused organization Stop Trump PAC to Voters First Victory Fund.

Stop Trump PAC was founded in 2020 in order to fight the existential threat of a Trump presidency. Following the capital riot attacks and Trump’s departure from office, the organization rebranded to Voters First Victory Fund to shift its primary focus away from Trump and onto other bad actors (such as Hawley, Cruz, and Rubio, among others). I spearheaded the branding of both organizations, and implemented it across landing pages, ads, and other marketing collateral. The primary goals of the organization now are to turn out voters, help Dems and progressives win key elections, beat seditionists, and ban them from running for office.

I subtly related the two brands to one another by implementing typography of a similar weight with an overall visual similarity—Darwin Pro with its rounded corners and Cubano with its curved edges. Given that it does not include the angry face of a politician or a brush stroke edge, the Voters First logo is a little bit more polished looking with its clean lines. In contrast, the Stop Trump PAC brand maintains more of a grassroots edge, reflecting more of the urgency of its time while Trump was in office.

Though tax proposals aren’t the sexiest topic of conversation, they are an important—yet often overlooked—feature of the ballot. Michigan municipalities are still stuck in the recession due to outdated state law preventing taxable values from increasing faster than inflation. This left the suburban city of Madison Heights with 35% less taxable value, and in turn, significantly less revenue than pre-recession levels. Despite closing parks, drastically reducing staff, and deferring maintenance on aging police, fire, and EMS equipment in a city that increases its emergency services calls every year, Madison Heights struggled to afford basic services. Thus, Proposal MH was introduced to the ballot in 2019 to increase the charter millage and combine other existing special millages into one tax.

I created a brand for the city’s digital and print campaign to educate citizens about the proposal. The city needed to explain the real cost to residents and the problems they would face if this millage was not passed.

Ultimately, Proposal MH passed in November 2019 with an incredibly slim majority of 137 votes. As a result, the city could hire new police, fire, and EMS personnel to handle increased demand, consolidate four separate millages into a new charter millage streamlining tax bills for residents, and provide new quality of life amendments including parks and recreation programs.

It was a team effort, but I’m proud to say I played a part in winning a Pollie for this work in the Digital Ballot Initiative - Internet Advertising category in 2020. 🏆