You can learn more about the award here.

The site was recognized for excelling in the categories of ensign, innovation, content, technology, copywriting and ease of use.

Congrats to the Academy on this award, and thank you for allowing us to be a part of your team. Thanks also to Integrated Web Marketing which, as always, was a great strategic partner on this project.

Today, we helped launch his campaign Web site, as well as an email program that is already touching tens of thousands of voters in DuPage County.

Onward to victory in 2012!

Thank you!

Click here to learn more about our award for “Best Political Rich Media Online Ad” in the Web Marketing Associations’s Internet Advertising Competition.

The ad was for our client, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, in support of now-Congressman Bobby Schilling’s winning 2011 congressional campaign.

The ad was for our client, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, in support of now-Congressman Bobby Schilling’s winning 2011 congressional campaign.

Click here to view a demo of the ad.

We delivered 4 million impressions of the online, expandable, rich media ads — generating an impressive 202,000 interactions with the ads.

Special thanks to our strategic partner on this project, TOBA Communications.  Thank you also — of course — to the Illinois Chamber of Commerce for engaging us for the winning campaign.

The Academy is an educational program organized under the leadership of the LEC. Its mission is to provide rigorous and balanced education programs on a range of civil justice issues for the benefit of the general public and members of the U.S. Congress and their staff. The Academy is an independent, outside entity that shares the goals of the Congressional Civil Justice Caucus (the Caucus), a Congressional Member Organization.

In addition to launching the Academy’s Web site (another product of our great partnership with Integrated Web Strategy), we will be rolling out a full online communications program.

Please click here for a brief explanation of the Academy.

We plan to roll out a new Web site for the Law & Economics Center in the coming weeks.

Jim has a great track record of success (Homer Glen is one of the few municipalities in Illinois with a balanced budget) and is a rising star in Illinois politics.

We’re managing Jim’s campaign, and the site design is by our terrific strategic partner: Integrated Web Strategy.

• The Illinois Chamber of Commerce hired our firm to engage in aggressive email and online rich media advertising campaigns in support of Republican Congressional challengers Bobby Schilling (IL-17) and Randy Hultgren (IL-14). Both Bobby and Randy scored huge victories — with Bobby winning a seat that has been in Democrat hands for almost 30 years.

• The Illinois Chamber also had us engage in an email and online ad campaign in Chicago’s suburbs on behalf of U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk. Kirk scored a major victory for what was President Obama’s former Senate seat — and won with more than 50% in each of the suburban counties in which we engaged.

• We did a similar suburban program (for the IL Chamber) on behalf of Bill Brady. Although that race is still too close to call — Brady scored more than 50% of the vote in every county in which we engaged.

• Our firm also managed the overall campaign for Will County Circuit Court candidate Michael Powers. The highlight of our campaign was an online rich media ad program that delivered 2 million online impressions — and it paid off with a Powers victory. Most impressive: Powers garnered almost 100,000 votes and was the leading vote getter of any other candidate in suburban/exurban Will County, IL.

We will have more detailed breakdowns of these campaigns — and the groundbreaking work we did in them — during the next few days.

In the meantime, we are enjoying the results of what was a very successful Election Night.

We’re fortunate to work with a great group of clients that challenge us each and every day.

And we’re pleased to announce the addition of some new clients to our team:

• Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council (email advocacy)
• Illinois House Republican Organization (email advocacy)
• Gary DeMoss for Maryland State Senate (online communications … Web site coming soon)

We’re also tackling some new projects for JUSTPAC (the political action committee of our existing client, the Illinois Civil Justice League) and look forward to some upcoming projects for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

We’re excited to work with each and every one of these organizations, and look forward to contributing to their success.

I’m quoted in this article from today’s edition of PrairieStater.com about the lack of successful online programs among Illinois campaigns and candidates.

“The amount of political campaigns that are ‘doing it right’ online are actually very few and far between,” said Curt Mercadante, principal of Merc Strategy Group, LLC. “It’s mostly just a lack of committment on the part of candidates and campaign manager to spend the time and resources needed to be effective online. For the most part, they are stuck in the traditional mold of broadcast communications and don’t see the value in building relationships online.”

Just calling it how I see it.  I hope candidates start taking it to heart and realizing the importance of spending engaging online.  Their campaigns — and the electorate — will be better off for it.

The most recent issue of Hilton Head Monthly previewed my upcoming address to the Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce Business Expo:

More than 2,000 people are expected to attend the expo, a face-to-face marketing opportunity that can be extremely valuable to entrepreneurs and other small business operations.

The chamber has arranged a special seminar this year on social media. Curt Mercadante, principal of Merc Strategy Group, LLC, will present “The Press Release is Dead: Using New Communications Tools to Build Your Business, Non-Profit or Campaign.” From Twitter to Facebook to blogs, social media is being touted as the new tool for marketing to consumers who are increasingly online and mobile.

I’m excited for the address, and honored that the Hilton Head Chamber has invited me to present at this great event.

“part of a ‘new breed of Republican politics’ — a young, energetic politician who tapped into social networking and worked hard throughout the state.”

Jason made the e-campaign an important part of his campaign, including building one of the largest Republican voter email networks in the state, and a large and active following on Facebook.  It is interesting to note that Jason won the campaign by approximately 4,700 votes — and had about 4,700 supporters on Facebook.

Jason made a strong commitment to building his campaign’s strategic online program, and we were honored to help him build a strong, statewide online grassroots network that was a strong component of his winning effort.

Over a three-month period, our firm helped the Plummer campaign build one of, if not the largest, statewide Republican voter email networks, as well as one of the strongest “social networking” outreach efforts in Illinois.

We also were honored to work on the gubernatorial campaign of former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan.  Jim came up short in a closely-contested Republican Primary, but we were proud of the work we did for his campaign — and honored to work for a great man and a dedicated public servant.