Arizona Proposition 126, the “Prohibit New or Increased Taxes on Services Initiative,” was on the ballot in Arizona as an initiated constitutional amendment. If passed, the amendment would prohibit the state and local governments from enacting new taxes or increasing tax rates on services performed in the state, including REALTOR® services, haircuts, dry cleaning, landscaping, plumbing, childcare, healthcare, and more.

The objective of the “Yes on 126, Protect Arizona Taxpayers” campaign was to persuade voters to say yes to an amendment that many did not understand.

The issue was polled by American Strategies in June 2018 and showed 39% support. By the end of September, when Suffolk University polled the issue, it was still showing below 50% support, with 21% undecided.

Our digital campaign launched the last week in September. Our digital targeting methodology was built to leverage three precise data inputs:

• Voter Data: Best-in-class voter data in combination with our proprietary one-to-one digital matching technology were used to target modeled persuadable audiences in specific Arizona districts.

• Social Data: A social artificial intelligence engine to build look-alike models of identified stakeholders was used to reach distinct audiences at scale.

• Mobile/Connected Data: Potent app-based dynamic data targeting was used to reach individuals on their mobile devices when it would matter most.

The digital targeting methodology also included a support model that was built to find likely supporters and was combined with an Enthusiasm Adjusted Turnout (EAT) model. EAT is a model that was built to reflect in-cycle voter enthusiasm. It was updated regularly and after key events such as the Kavanaugh hearing. These scores, blended together, helped to target a precise audience of likely voters through mail and digital who were apt to support Proposition 126 and not be drop-off voters.

With our advanced, multifaceted targeting approach, we were able to get extraordinary reach while still maintaining a healthy level of constituent engagement. Throughout the campaign, our team of digital analysts leveraged social listening tools to identify conversation trends to fuel message development and further optimize for ongoing audience engagement.

The aggressive six-week digital campaign of programmatic, social, and pre-roll advertising, in combination with several rounds of mail, persuaded a significant percentage of the undecideds to support the issue, resulting in a positive outcome for the campaign. Yes on 126 won handily, 64.72% yes to 35.28% no. This campaign was selected to receive the 2019 Reed Award for Best Use of Online Targeting in a Statewide Campaign (Non-Federal).