In 2011, Jeff Johnson asked me to be his campaign manager as he ran for Lake Forest Park City Council.
There were many challenges: Jeff had not been involved in city government and was not a household name, there is no Lake Forest Park-specific media, the competition was well-known and funded, and Jeff was only known as an auto mechanic.
I was the first in Lake Forest Park election history to use social media tools to get the word out, and we used them to great effect. Whenever our opponents would make a claim about Jeff, we used marketing judo to turn their attacks on us back on them.
Jeff went on to win by 8 points. Four years later, he decided to take on the incumbent Mayor. After three weeks of announcing her campaign, she had 33 Facebook likes. When Jeff announced, he had more than 150 in a day. She withdrew the next day.
Jeff Johnson's Facebook announcement that he was running for LFP Mayor.
This post takes on the idea that Jeff is inexperienced.
Displaying that he's a normal guy with a sense of humor.
We were always able to effectively turn mud-slinging back on to those who started it.
Jeff showed that he never had anything to hide and could turn any negative into a positive.
His opponent sent out this direct mail piece to LFP. In minutes, we had this response on Jeff's social media. We would later release a mailer to echo this idea.