Eminent Domain

Background

On June 23, 2005, the infamous Kelo v. City of New London was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the use of eminent domain to transfer land from one private owner to another to further economic development.

The case arose from the condemnation by New London, Connecticut of privately owned real property so that it could be used as part of a comprehensive redevelopment plan. The Court held in a 5-4 decision that the general benefits a community enjoyed from economic growth qualified such redevelopment plans as a permissible "public use" under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

In 2006, several organizations that opposed Eminent Domain approached Political Media, Inc with an interesting challenge: to increase awareness of the Eminent Domain issue among the general public.

Strategy

Political Media, Inc created a plan which:

* Generated a vote 'yes campaign' against the issue
* Increased visibility for the organizations opposing Eminent Domain
* Built and created a solid GOTV campaign
* Created a public media frenzy

Advertising Mediums Employed

* Web Animations
* Blog Infiltration
* Interactive Website Development
* Opt-in Email Marketing
* Online ad placement
* Direct Mail
* Activist on-call
* Out-of-home Advertising
* Public Relations

Results

As a result, thirty-four states enacted legislation and/or passed ballot measures and ten states passed ballot measures in 2006.  Six of them were legislative referrals and four were new citizen initiatives.