“DCCC was able to raise over $100 million online during the 2018 cycle, and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without Rising Tide’s help in building our list. Our team at RTI continuously monitored results, optimized towards our goals, and tested hundreds of creatives and campaigns to make sure we were keeping up with the news cycle. With a strong foundation of grassroots donors, we saw a record-setting fundraising performance, invested in more than 80 races, and flipped the House.”
Julia Ager, Chief Digital Officer, DCCC
Situation
Immediately after Donald Trump’s surprise victory in 2016, Rising Tide worked with the DCCC to capture the energy of the resistance, spending more than $2.1 million on list-building ads between Election Day 2016 and March 2017.
Strategy
RTI built, deployed, and tested more than 150 unique creatives across dozens of campaigns in the five months following Donald Trump’s election. We optimized for performance in real time and tracked long-term performance of ad-sourced names to understand which creatives, targets, and platforms combined to acquire the best digital donor prospects.
Results
The early investment paid off, with the supporters acquired between November 2016 and March 2017 contributing $8.8 million by Election Day — a return on investment of more than 400% — which in turn, helped the DCCC invest in more than 80 races, pick up 40 seats, and take back the House.
- 160 creatives tested across 60 campaigns
- 96,141 new grassroots donors
- $8.8MM raised from early-cycle acquisitions — a 420% return on investment
