ROCK THE VOTE
Rock the Vote approached Funny Or Die with a problem: they needed a massive, multi-platform voter registration campaign to reach young people, and they needed it fast. The partnership would involve three major organizations, span video and radio, and require coordinating dozens of A-list celebrities. And we had 12 weeks to do it all.
Year
2016
Role
Executive Producer, Writer
Timeline
12 weeks
A Multi-Platform Campaign Under Pressure
12 weeks before Election Day, Rock the Vote approached Funny Or Die with a problem: they needed a boost in the form of a massive, multi-platform voter registration campaign to reach young people. The partnership would involve three major organizations (Rock the Vote, Funny Or Die, and iHeartMedia), span video and radio, and require coordinating dozens of A-list celebrities, all in the lead up to Election Day. We were in, and I was tasked with producing the campaign. That meant managing writers rooms, producing videos, writing and recording radio spots, and serving as the single point of contact between our partners, talent, and our internal teams. The timeline was brutal, but the goal was clear: drive voter registrations through smart, consistent messaging and surprising creative that could cut through the noise of one of the most contentious elections in modern history. The creative had to work across platforms and partners while staying tonally cohesive. We kicked off with a launch video starring Katy Perry, which I produced, where she attempts to vote naked. Call it clickbait if you like, but it was for a good cause. And it worked. The video hit 11 million views and drove 150,000 voter registrations on its own. It also generated 5,175 press mentions, including coverage on Fox, E!, and Inside Edition.
State-Specific Strategy and Efficient Execution
But we couldn't rely on a single viral moment. Elections are local—registration deadlines, early voting rules, and polling locations vary by state. So we built a series of state-specific videos, each anchored by a celebrity with ties to that state or area: Ben Affleck for New Hampshire, Will Ferrell for Florida, Craig Robinson for Michigan. The idea was to leverage local pride to drive engagement while delivering tailored voting information. I sourced and cast the talent, managed production, and ensured every video hit the right tone and timeline. On the radio side, iHeartMedia donated millions of dollars in airtime, but we had to deliver the creative. I wrote and produced over 20 radio spots featuring artists like Pitbull, the Jonas Brothers, and the Backstreet Boys. The key was efficiency: I leveraged the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, where dozens of major artists were already gathered, and captured the majority of our spots in a single night. I also wrote a live on-stage moment for Jamie Foxx to talk voter registration, which aired across 150 iHeartMedia stations.
Turning Content Into Action
The campaign required constant coordination across three large organizations, each with their own priorities and approval processes. I was on the road for 10 of the 12 weeks, from Los Angeles to St. Louis to Las Vegas to New York, chasing talent, managing shoots, and keeping everything moving. The pressure was relentless, but the results were undeniable. Rock the Vote registered 1.6 million new voters via our campaign during the 2016 cycle. The campaign generated over 664 million media impressions on iHeartMedia stations alone, and the PSAs aired more than 230,000 times. We turned content into action by building a campaign that was creatively surprising, strategically targeted, and executed under enormous time pressure.
