Hawkfish

Hawkfish was a 2020 Election effort, supported by Mike Bloomberg, that engaged with Democratic candidates, allies & causes to reach the right voters with the right message in the right place using robust technology, data, and digital-first storytelling.

New York City

Hawkfish helps Democratic candidates and aligned organizations engage the right audiences and motivate them to take action. We are a team of experienced tech engineers, data scientists, creatives and campaign veterans, bringing the best data and experience together to close the digital divide and make a positive impact in November and beyond. Here are just some of the innovations and successes they helped deliver: - **_Saving 32% on ad spend using machine learning_**. Hawkfish’s ML team trained our algorithms to make more efficient ad buys by continually looking for optimal media buying strategies. We ran more than 16,000 experiment cycles that helped our clients increase the efficiency of their ad buys — in some cases _saving more than 30 cents on every $1.00 spent_. - **_Innovating a new way to measure the impact of digital media_**. Our proprietary Looking Glass measurement product gave clients a _real-time understanding of how their ads were performing online._ This tool took the guesswork out of which messages were resonating with which audiences — enabling optimizations on every dollar spent. With one client, this capability helped us achieve _more than 3% lift in candidate support by refining message and audience targeting_ by identifying the most persuasive content and platforms early in a campaign. - **_Using state of the art computer vision and machine learning technologies to create more effective ads with our Ad Analyzer tool_**. Creative pre-testing is often used to identify the best ad concepts before putting advertising dollars behind the spots that work — an expensive weeding out process. We took a different approach. Hawkfish collaborated with Realeyes on a tool that tracks attention and emotional response throughout a spot. These second-by-second readings identified the most powerful moments in an ad and isolated those that didn’t work — empowering our clients to improve the performance of almost any spot. With one client, Way to Win, this helped identify edits that led to an _18% increase in video completion rates and a nearly 3% lift in the intent to vote_. - **_Tracking the pandemic’s effect on media persuasiveness._** Hawkfish’s team of data scientists and economists developed a proprietary model that allowed our clients to optimize their media spend based on the severity of the pandemic’s effects across a given geography. This helped our ad operations team optimize buys to be more efficient in a rapidly changing environment. One client used this model to optimize their audience targeting, which on its own generated a _more than 5-point swing in vote intent_ and a nearly _7-point swing in favorability_. - **_Coining the term “[Red Mirage](https://redmirage.hawkfish.us/).”_** After diving into early voter survey data, Hawkfish raised awareness of how the slow and uneven counting of mail ballots in 2020 could shape election narratives in the lead-up to November 3. This helped prepare pundits and operatives alike to survive a period of post-election uncertainty, and generated more than _2,000 mentions in national and international press_. - **_Creating one of the largest micro-influencer campaigns in Georgia political history_**. Our social team worked with Progress Georgia to leverage a diverse network of local influencers to promote authentic messages around vote by mail and early voting. In the oversaturated media environment of the GA SEN runoff, these organic social efforts delivered personal, engaging appeals to more than _1.9 million followers_ from content creators who were _85% people of color_. - **_Proving the effectiveness of digital GOTV with award-winning new tactics._** Working with our partners, we helped design a digital get-out-the-vote program that _turned out 80,000 more incremental voters in two presidential battlegrounds_. As part of this effort, we ran a randomized control trial that showed digital programs can be cost effective at reaching and turning out young voters and voters of color — _increasing incremental turnout by 5% and earning an award from the Analyst Institute_ along with our clients. - **_Partnering with a leading public health institution on a social media strategy to inform the public and enrich discussions about covid. _**As the pandemic took hold in the US, Hawkfish worked with world-renowned public health experts to get important information in front of the right audiences. Using culturally-relevant content and channel-specific executions, our team helped _increase the reach of these critical public health messages and boosted engagement by more than 180%_, far outpacing other public health institutions. - **_Launching the More Data newsletter, chronicling_** **_the latest tactics and trends shaping the political and tech ecosystems. _**What started as an internal tipsheet quickly gained thousands of subscribers, delivering actionable insights to political operatives and decisionmakers 3x a week.