It Started Pouring the Moment the Governor Took the Stage. Eight Hours Later, the Video Was Already Outrunning the News
Massachusetts’ “Yes on 2” campaign was fighting to lift the state’s cap on charter schools — a policy fight that had already been boxed in as a partisan issue before most voters had even weighed in. To have a real shot, the campaign needed to reach past the people already arguing about it and build genuine public sentiment, fast, around the families and teachers the policy would actually affect.
We started out with the 5 questions we bring to every marketing problem:
1. What is the goal?
Break the story out of “partisan issue” framing and build broad public sentiment quickly, before opposition messaging could set the narrative first.
2. Who is the right audience?
Massachusetts voters who didn’t see themselves on either political team on this issue — parents, teachers, and undecided voters who’d respond to real stories over talking points.
3. What do they care about?
Their kids’ education and opportunities, not a policy fight — and hearing from people they’d actually trust: other families, teachers, and, when politics entered the picture, officials from both parties standing together.
4. Where do they spend their time?
Social media and local news — the same channels that would decide whether this looked like a fringe partisan push or a genuine, broad-based movement.
5. How do we reach them there?
Build the campaign around family and teacher perspectives, and anchor the launch with a flagship video showing bipartisan support — Democrats and Republicans sharing a stage, headlined by Governor Baker.
Governor Baker’s speech at the launch event produced an unscripted, raw cultural moment.
A two-person crew shot the event live in front of the State House, then raced back to the editing room and got to work immediately. We had a finished draft in Governor Baker’s inbox that evening. His reply: “This is amazing. Let’s launch it.” The video went out before local news had even aired its own coverage of the event.
It caught fire on social media immediately, and because it was out ahead of the news cycle, the video itself shaped how the event ended up getting covered.
We went on to produce about a dozen videos capturing emotional and unscripted testimonials from parents and teachers, highlighting bipartisan support, and boosting Boston Globe’s endorsement.
Yes on 2 ultimately fell short at the ballot — but the race was much closer than it was expected to be. The launch video and the broader video campaign were widely credited as one of the levers that meaningfully moved public sentiment.
