OnSight is pleased to announce the hiring of our new Creative Communications Strategist, Abby Leeper. Previously a political media buyer, Abby is excited to put her creative thinking cap back on to create content and copy. Originally from Omaha, Neb., Abby is still a Midwesterner at heart—although after living in Colorado for a few years, she is now convinced that she’ll never leave the Mile High region.
Representatives from the City of Loveland, the City of Fort Collins, Colorado State University, and Drive Electric Northern Colorado participated in the ground breaking to install a public charging station at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery.
Fewer things put a stop to a media event (or any other event, for that matter) faster than a blizzard. Despite a rather uneventful winter, Mother Nature decided to pummel the Front Range with its largest snowstorm of the season on Sunday, February 24th. Children around the region feverishly performed snow-dances in their bedrooms in hopes of a day off from school. But the staff at OnSight Public Affairs and the Electrification Coalition were still hard at work, collective knots in their stomachs growing tighter and tighter as each inch of snow fell. The launch of a new electric vehicle initiative in Northern Colorado was just one day away.
But by 8:00 a.m. on Monday, the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery was already bustling place. Microphones were checked. Electric cars in the lot were cleared of snow. As guests arrived for the conference, OnSight staffers twiddled their thumbs and contemplated whether or not the media would show up at all after Snowmaggedon 2013.
But one by one, media crews trickled in. And by 9:00 a.m., more than three news stations, a handful of regional papers, a public radio and a local cable network were represented. Despite the odds, the work of the OnSight staff (especially, media relations extraordinaire, George Merritt) paid off, and the media event ran without a hitch.
State’s First Electric Car ‘Fast Charger’ Arrives in Northern Colorado—KCNC
Initiative to push for electric cars launches in Northern Colorado – Loveland / Longmont
Partnership aims to make Northern Colorado leader in electric vehicles – The Denver Post
Drive Electric Northern Colorado Hopes To Spark A Revolution – KUNC
Electric Cars Stealing the Attention of Fort Collins and Loveland – NOCO5
Drive Electric Northern Colorado launched today by CSU, Loveland, FC – Innovation News
OnSight’s Ben Davis participated in live-blogging of the Lance Armstrong confession last night.
One of the most-recognized names in sports has been much in the news the last week, as word of Lance Armstrong’s confession to ongoing use of performance enhancing drugs during an exclusive Oprah interview was publicized.
Part I of the two-part interview aired last night, and OnSight’s Ben Davis took part in a live-blog conversation on VeloNews, of the nation’s premier cycling news magazines, to give a Public Relations perspective to Lance’s performance.
Reactions to last night’s revelations were fairly tepid; will Part II tonight begin the long process of repairing the damage to Lance’s name, storied history, philanthropy, and the legitimacy of professional cycling at large?
Tune in to the VeloNews live blog tonight at 8 to find out…
Happy Holidays from Ben, Mike, George, Jordan, and Anne
The Keating/OnSight polls won Curtis Hubbards “closest to the pin” award.
Getting voters to understand the Amendment — which sets out to modernize government so that we hire and promote the best employees, increase accountability and help veterans who serve our country — was an uphill battle. A wonky and technical issue, it took a creative integrated campaign of online, radio, and billboard ads to get voters educated.
But with a unanimous vote of approval from the state legislature, endorsements from nearly every newspaper in the state, and an outpouring of support from both the business and non-profit community, Coloradans voted to pass Amendment S by a double-digit margin!
A win for veterans and the efficiency of our state government!
OnSight Public Affairs worked with Keating Research to run a series of polls leading up to the election. Cited by the NYTimes’ Nate Silver the day before the election, the OnSight/Keating polls were roundly recognized as among the most accurate, getting kudos from both Fox31’s Eli Stokols:
In Colorado, conservatives dismissing the work of pollster Chris Keating on the grounds that he’s worked for Hickenlooper and Udall, overlooked a series of polls that were spot-on. A day before the election, Keating had Obama leading Romney 50-46; it was a four-point win for Obama, 52-48, in the end.
And The Denver Post’s Curtis Hubbard, who gave our polls his Gold Medal award.
A series of web videos and online fundraising efforts managed by OnSight helped propel incumbent Ed Perlmutter to a 12 point victory in the race to represent the 7th Congressional District. Despite re-districting which made the race more competitive, and beer magnate Joe Coors’ (who poured millions of dollars of his personal fortune into the race) best efforts to discredit Ed with ads that made national attention for the dishonesty, Ed Perlmutter’s focus on positive advertising and his record of working hard to represent his constituents served him well in his campaign.
Congratulations to Ed, as both fans and constituents we’re excited to see you remain in office!
Throughout the campaign season, with Colorado in the media spotlight as both a swing state and the host of the first of the Presidential debates, OnSight’s electoral expertise was in demand:
The national media spotlight turned on Denver in early October, as the first Presidential Debate got underway at the University of Denver. Looking for new angles and local expertise, reporters turned to OnSight Public Affairs’ Mike Melanson for information and insight.
Quoted in the LA Times and at NBCPolitics.com, Melanson’s pithy and incisive commentary about the character of western voters helped bring the rest of the nation up to speed on the tenor of the contest in this battleground state.
With the election only weeks away and the candidates in what — at the time of this writing– appears to be a statistical dead heat, continue to watch this space for new polling data and insight into what it all means.