Greetings, colleagues!
Before flipping Minnesota’s Third District blue for the first time in six decades in 2018, I spent 30 years researching consumer behavior and developing marketing campaigns for successful brands. Now I’m asking for your vote – and to help you tell your story – as Co-Chair of the DPCC. We outperformed midterm expectations, but we must continue to adapt and grow, so I invite you to read on to learn more about why I’m ready to deploy listening, strategy, and innovation to rebuild our Democratic brand and regain the majority in 2024. Let's grow!
Who?
After losing my birth father in the Vietnam War when I was just six months old, my mother, DeeDee, and I moved in with my grandmother in a low-income housing unit in St. Paul, Minnesota. Two years later, my mom married Eddie Phillips, who adopted me and taught me to always work hard and share success. I joined my family's business, Phillips Distilling, after earning my MBA from the University of Minnesota. While there, I worked my way up - including stints in sales, marketing, and packaging - to becoming CEO in 2000, building several brands, including Belvedere Vodka and Minnesota-grown Prairie Organic Spirits, in the process. In 2012, I stepped down as CEO to become co-owner of Talenti Gelato. Using innovative packaging and strategic marketing, and a very modest budget, my business partners and I built it into the third-best selling premium ice cream brand in the country.
So, what does selling ice cream and spirits have to do with political communications? It’s about understanding what people want, letting the best ideas carry the day, and never forgetting the importance of packaging when it comes to marketing those ideas to prospective customers – or in our case, constituents.
I incorporated this marketing-forward thinking into my first campaign for Congress, and I have incorporated it into my service in Congress. I was just easily re-elected to my third term as a result, and my approach to campaigning and representation has been noticed by media from Forbes to the New York Times. It’s an honor to represent my community in Congress, and I would be equally honored to help amplify your voice as a Co-Chair of the DPCC in the 118th Congress. Are you ready to construct 21st century communications and promotional capabilities, reinvent our Democratic brand, and invite more Americans to vote blue in 2024? Here’s a little more about why and how I think we can get there…
Why?
Government cannot be run like a business, but that doesn't mean we shouldn’t learn from and adopt best practices from the private sector. We Democrats produce outstanding legislation, but wrap it in ineffective packaging. We talk in small print while our opponents talk in headlines. We allow their messages to manage us rather than the other way around. We’re not just falling short of our own expectations, we’re falling short of our opposition - and it’s time to change that.
According to information from the House Communications Standards Commission, Republican offices are investing more in official advertising and content creation than Democratic offices. If you don't tell your story, someone else will tell it for you, and this election cycle, our opponents invested in and spun a successful narrative.
I always say that representation begins with listening, so when I first began exploring a run for DPCC Co-Chair, my first stop was to solicit feedback from those on the front lines of communicating with our constituents: your staff. More than 60 Democratic Communications Directors took the time to share ideas with me, and their candid responses reveal we're relying on limited resources and little-to-no training when it comes to effectively telling our stories, and the vast majority are struggling to break through despite the commendable efforts.
As is all-to-common in this institution, our communications departments are expected to compete in a 21st century world with 20th century systems. The truth is, the scope of communications work required to break through has increased exponentially in the digital age, and the way in which we structure and resource our teams simply has not kept up. Most offices I heard from report one or two staffers doing work equivalent to dozens in the private sector, where video, photography, email, speechwriting, press, graphic design, and ad buying are each specialized, full-time jobs in their own right. As a successful entrepreneur and brand builder, and now member of Congress, I know - with teamwork and creativity - we can smartly invest our limited resources to better support our teams, tell stories that resonate, and win the messaging race.
How?
In order to grow, reinvent our Democratic brand and invite more Americans to vote blue in 2024, we need to enhance our communications and promotional capabilities the following ways (to start!):
- Consolidate communications, polling, and message guidance coming from leadership
- Build staffing and budget recommendations for communications teams that can compete in the digital age
- Establish shared resources for quality, compliant advertising, design, and content production
- Offer communications training, development, and networking opportunities for members and all staff
- Form an advisory group of public sector marketing professionals to help us develop our own brand
- Connect members and staff to influencers and media personalities, embracing the new media landscape
- Humanize Congress, break down barriers, and invite our constituents to join us in the big Democratic tent
Given my background, my experience, and my passion for building brands through communications, I believe I am well positioned to help you tell your story, spread your message, and make sure it reaches your constituents too. I would be honored to have your support and your vote for Co-Chair of the DPCC. Keep in touch, and let's grow!
Interested in seeing more?
Here are a few ways I've put listening, strategy, and innovation to work telling the story of our successes in my congressional district - building a strong brand along the way:
