No 10 point plan

At CN4 we spend a lot of time thinking and talking about how to tell stories.

Stories bind us together and are an authentic way to connect with people – especially voters. We can – and do – tell stories through many different mediums, but lately we’ve been working on an exciting project – an announcement video for Mark Gonzalez’s US Senate race.

We’ve talked a lot about announcement videos, each one having a specific goal or different approach. And with Mark’s video it was important that we told his story, how he wanted to. Mark’s story isn’t the story we often hear from people running for US Senate, and that’s what made it so important.

We spent months getting to know Mark – researching and understanding his work, conducting bio interviews (Here is an example of some of the bio work we have candidates fill out), and spending time with him and his community in Corpus Christi.

Take a look:

The final product can often be deeper and more meaningful the more you watch it. We’ve gotten feedback from moms who worry about their kids getting in trouble, for example. And while we have gotten comparisons to other candidates, we know Mark’s story is unique and deserves that attention.

“Tats!! And rascally kids. You have all the moms of 15 year olds, I can vouch we are all living in complete fear that our kid will be caught doing stupid shit – because they are all doing stupid shit.”

– Response from a local mom after seeing the ad

For a practitioner, campaigns are about a schedule and a budget. Navigating ‘Resign to Run’ laws and Coastal Bend politics is just another day in the Texas Office.

For a storyteller, however, campaigns are about the main character and how their experiences made them. The Mark we know today was made at 19, when he got pulled over. It’s the politics of authenticity. People ultimately vote for people – not policies or 10 point plans.

We could help you with your creative political media projects or you just want to say hi, send me a note at Michael@CN4Partners.com.