M3Media - About M3

M3’s Role in Bob McDonnell’s Historic Victory in Virginia

For nine long years Republican were trapped in the political wilderness in statewide races in Virginia until Bob McDonnell was elected governor of Virginia with more votes that any GOP candidate in modern Virginia history.

McAuliffe Message Media (M3) was honored to serve as the McDonnell campaign’s media strategist while also directing the creative development of the McDonnell website and overseeing the campaign’s web strategy for messaging, advertising and placement across all platforms of McDonnell’s “new media” advertising on the web.

McDonnell’s victory comes just one year after Barack Obama’s seven-point victory and Mark Warner’s Senate landslide victories in Virginia last November.

After Creigh Deeds stunning June primary victory, he led McDonnell by 6%. After McDonnell’s June media wave he took an eight-point lead over Deeds that he never relinquished.

Charlie Cook and Jennifer Duffy of the respected Cook Political Report wrote that M3’s media campaign for Bob McDonnell played an important role in his appeal to Independent and suburban voters and in helping him fend off his opponent’s attacks.

Strategists point to a McDonnell television ad that focused on green jobs that was critical in the campaign’s effort to appeal to independent and suburban voters.

The reasonable image that McDonnell projected by, for example, running a green jobs ad paid off for him when he was attacked for the rather extreme views expressed in his master's thesis. Because those views seemed at odds with his image, attacks based on them tended to roll off like water on a duck's back.

Politico reported “McDonnell’s campaign ads, done by Doug McAuliffe, smartly kept the candidate front and center and connecting directly with the voters.” Even a Virginia Democrat website said “Bob McDonnell’s commercials are very well made.”