Author: admin

  • Bullpen Strategy Group Grows Its Roster With New Hires & Promotions

    Five New Hires In Washington, Promotions For Four Team Members

    Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) today announced five new hires, adding senior communications, digital, and research talent, as well as four promotions for team members in the Washington and London offices. BSG has now grown to 52 team members across three offices in Washington, DC, Dallas, and London. Last week, Inc. Magazine recognized BSG on the 2023 Inc. 5000, its annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

    Joining the BSG team are:

    George Hartmann – Vice President, Communications: George is a seasoned policy communicator with years of experience as a spokesman and communications advisor in the U.S. Senate. Most recently, George served as Deputy Communications Director at the Senate Budget Committee and is a veteran of the Senate Finance Committee, Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Office of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

    Valerie Chicola – Senior Director, Communications: Before joining BSG, Valerie served as a Director at the public affairs and digital firm Targeted Victory, and previously served as Broadcast Communications Advisor for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, and as Deputy Director of Media Affairs at the Republican National Committee.

    Evan Gassman – Vice President, Digital: Prior to joining BSG, Evan supported digital campaigns at public affairs agencies including Social Driver, CRAFT | Media / Digital, and Clyde Group. Evan’s digital agency work has supported clients such as the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, National Retail Federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Honda, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the Pharmaceutical and Research Manufacturers of America, and the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

    Alex Koch – Director, Research: As a lawyer, Alex brings to BSG a diverse background in law, research, policy, and communications. He previously served as an Associate at the management consulting and investment firm McKenna & Associates.

    Ryan McDowell – Director, Research: Prior to joining BSG, Ryan served as a Director at America Rising Corp.

    In addition, BSG announced four promotions: Ali Hiestand and Rob Simpson to Vice President in the DC office, Louis McMahon to Vice President in the London office, and George Basile to Senior Associate.

    “We’re very excited to add these talented professionals to BSG’s roster, and to see our team continue to grow within the firm,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “We’re building a deep bench and expanding our service offerings to drive results and value for our clients every day.”

    ###

    George Hartmann, Vice President – George is a seasoned policy communicator, with years of experience as a spokesman and communications advisor in the U.S. Senate. He has led and implemented media relations strategies for long-term legislative efforts in a range of policy areas from criminal justice reform to tax incentive reauthorization to health care. George has also coordinated public affairs campaigns around numerous congressional investigations and several high-profile federal nominations, including the confirmations of cabinet secretaries and four Supreme Court justices.

    Most recently, he served as Deputy Communications Director at the Senate Budget Committee, and has served on the staffs of the Senate Finance and Judiciary Committees as well as in the Office of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. George has experience managing crises and providing strategic communications advice in the financial services and digital assets industry amid scrutiny from federal legal and regulatory agencies. He also served as research and special assistant to former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. George is a graduate of Georgetown University.

    Evan Gassman, Vice President – Evan brings over a decade of creative and digital strategy experience to Bullpen Strategy Group. He is responsible for ensuring all of BSG’s output stands out creatively and is consumable across digital platforms. His work has helped change the way clients think about educating and inspiring online audiences.

    Prior to joining BSG, Evan worked in the digital agency space where he supported clients such as the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, National Retail Federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Honda, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the Pharmaceutical and Research Manufacturers of America, and the Retail Industry Leaders Association. Evan is a graduate of The Catholic University of America.

    When Evan isn’t working to support BSG’s next award-winning campaign, he can be found in his Washington, DC home playing board games, rewatching classic b-movies, or organizing yet another brunch outing.

    Valerie Chicola — Valerie brings several years of experience in government and politics. Prior to joining BSG, Valerie served as a Director at Targeted Victory, a Washington, D.C. based digital agency, where she managed the media rollout around a high-profile book tour and provided clients with campaign-style communications support.

    Valerie has worked in both the House and Senate, most notably as Broadcast Communications Advisor for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. Prior to her tenure on Capitol Hill, Valerie served as the Deputy Director of Media Affairs at the Republican National Committee, where she oversaw broadcast media bookings, managed and pitched key surrogates, and supported the White House during key confirmation hearings. During the 2016 cycle, Valerie also worked on the press team at the Republican State Leadership Committee, where she assisted with numerous state-level and down-ballot communications campaigns. Valerie is a graduate of Florida State University.

    Alex Koch, Director — Alex brings a diverse background in law, research, corporate and legislative affairs, policy, and communications. Prior to joining the firm, Alex worked at a McKenna & Associates, a DC-based management consulting and investment firm. There he shared insights on strategy, market, competitor, and policy analysis, and execution. Alex also worked at Reuters in the firm’s antitrust, regulatory, and legislative affairs practices. Koch holds degrees from Mitchell Hamline School of Law and Marquette University.

    Ryan McDowell, Director — Prior to joining BSG, Ryan served as a Director for America Rising Corporation. Ryan is a graduate of the University of Virginia, earning both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Public Policy degrees. Ryan enjoys spending his free time watching UVA sports and exploring outdoor spaces.

  • Bullpen Strategy Group Named To Inc. 5000 List Of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning, Inc. Magazine recognized Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) on the 2023 Inc. 5000, its annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Founded in 2019, BSG has experienced dynamic growth over the past four years, now counting some 50 team members across three offices in Washington, D.C., Texas, and London.

    The Inc. 5000 class of 2023 represents companies that have driven rapid revenue growth while navigating a host of post-pandemic challenges. Among this year’s top 5000 companies, the average median three-year revenue growth rate ticked up to 2,238 percent. In all, this year’s Inc. 5000 companies have added 1.1 million jobs to the economy over the past three years. Facebook, Chobani, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other household name brands gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

    “Making the Inc. 5000 is a tremendous accomplishment for our team, and a great testament to BSG’s focus on executing on behalf of our clients each and every day,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “The best part is, we’ve only just begun our journey at BSG. We look forward to continuing to build on this milestone. We’re investing in data, adding expertise, and expanding our service offerings to help our clients achieve their objectives and address the many challenges businesses face today.”

    Earlier this year, BSG launched its first two subsidiaries: Look Ahead Strategies, a specialized, full-service communications and research firm serving political, policy, and issue advocacy clients, and Kyber Research, which is dedicated to assisting clients with requesting and retrieving public records from across the United States and the world.

    “Running a business has only gotten harder since the end of the pandemic,” says Inc. editor-in-chief Scott Omelianuk. “To make the Inc. 5000—with the fast growth that requires—is truly an accomplishment. Inc. is thrilled to honor the companies that are building our future.”

    For complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, location, and other criteria, go to www.inc.com/inc5000. The top 500 companies are featured in the September issue of Inc. magazine, available on newsstands beginning Tuesday, August 23.

    Methodology
    Companies on the 2023 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2019 to 2022. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2019. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent – not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies – as of December 31, 2022. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2019 is $100,000; the minimum for 2022 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to four decimal places.

    ###

  • CASE STUDY: CUSTOM AI-POWERED VIDEO DATABASE

    The Challenge

    Our client, an industry-leading political research firm, needed a software application to help them organize their video assets, derive data-driven insights, and distribute the analysis and underlying video to clients with rigorous permission and security requirements.

    Their pre-existing solution involved combining expensive, off-the-shelf software with significant manpower and still did not give them the control or client experience they desired. The client engaged Bullpen Technology Group to build an enterprise, custom solution incorporating the latest advances in artificial intelligence.

    The Business Opportunity

    The client’s business process relied on human analysts to transcribe, annotate, and distribute proprietary video assets to their customers. This time intensive workflow slowed down the time between a video’s creation and its use by a customer. Additionally, because they were repurposing other consumer-grade software, there was limited visibility into how (or if) the client’s customers were accessing the data.

    Further, neither the client’s analysts nor their customers had the ability to search across the video library for keywords or attributes, including transcripts, speakers, or locations.

    The Solution

    Bullpen Technology Group worked with our client to develop a custom web application that automatically transcribed and analyzed their video assets using the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Once processed, analysts could more quickly annotate and distribute the videos. Customers are notified about new, relevant videos and users have the ability to search the entire catalog of content based on titles, speakers, keywords, transcripts, and more. Further, our client now has total control over their business process giving them robust analytics into how their customers are engaging with video library.

    A key aspect of our approach to a unique project like this is working with the client to truly understand their industry, their customers, and the problems they seek to address. This process necessarily precedes any discussion of software requirements to ensure Bullpen delivers to clients a solution rather than simply a product that meets specifications.

    The Results

    After a successful limited deployment for select customers mid-2022, our client introduced the software to all customers in 2023. Key results metrics:

    • Year to date the application has processed more than 3,000 videos and feedback from their customers is overwhelmingly positive.
    • Our client’s custom software application has improved the delivery time of new videos to customers by almost 40% over the previous year.
    • With their enhanced analytics, the client can monitor engagement to see that users, on average, log-in to the platform 3.5 times every week.

    Conclusion

    Bullpen’s approach to diving deep on our client’s existing process, studying the challenges they faced, and identifying the right tech stack was essential to deliver a product that truly addressed their needs.

  • BULLPEN BRIEF: Tracking Private Jet Travel

    This week, Insider reported “the world’s billionaires … are going to great lengths to hide their private flights.” Despite these efforts, there are several tools that Bullpen’s Research Practice uses to identify and access records about private aircraft, their owners, and flight histories, including SEC filings and databases such as FlightAware and ADS-B Exchange.

    These resources have frequently been used by the media and even anonymous Twitter accounts to track the jet travel of business leaders including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates, as well as political figures such as Donald Trump, John Kerry, and Bernie Sanders.

    Bullpen’s Research Practice has incorporated all of these flight tracking resources into the Research Stack – our major investment in some 200-plus datasets and subscription-based resources that help provide unparalleled insights for our clients. Every day, these tools are utilized in our due diligence and analysis work.

    The following selection of headlines demonstrates the importance of incorporating these valuable insights into communications and public affairs planning:

    Bloomberg: Elon Musk Is So Busy His Private Jet Is Taking 13-Minute Flights

    CNBC: Bill Gates On Why He’ll Carry On Using Private Jets And Campaigning On Climate Change

    Financial Times: US Corporate Jet Spending Jumps As Executives Keep Pandemic-Era Perks

    The Associated Press: Campaign Crunch Time Forces Progressives To Eye Private Jet

    Monitoring private jet travel is only one small component of Bullpen’s research work, but it is a prime example of our commitment to uncovering every detail and mastering all datasets available to help advance our clients’ objectives.

    ###

  • Bullpen Strategy Group Launches Digital Reputation Management Practice

    Helps clients manage brands and issues online, search engine results, Wikipedia, and more

    WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) launched a new Digital Reputation Management practice focused on helping businesses, executives, public policy initiatives, and other clients assess, manage, and strengthen their online profiles, improve Google Search results, create and positively impact Wikipedia pages, among other key services.

    “Bullpen is committed to ensuring we offer the most robust, forward-looking solutions to help our clients solve problems, navigate risk, and grow in the moment,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “That’s why we’re so excited to add Digital Reputation Management as another service for our clients. Using data-driven solutions to help manage and improve our clients’ online positioning is essential in today’s environment – whether it’s Google Search results, Wikipedia, or any other platform. Sound online data management is especially crucial in today’s ChatGPT world. If you aren’t shaping your online data today, you are an AI’s forgettable answer.”

    BSG’s Digital Reputation Management Practice focuses on providing comprehensive, data-driven solutions to a range of challenges facing clients in the digital space, including:

    • Digital Assessment and Audit: Let the experts audit your online profile for an objective view of the current state of play, identify potential trouble spots and opportunities, and get a gameplan for how to improve it over time.
    • Digital Reputation Management – Companies and Issues: Position your brand, issue, or executive’s online reputation so that accurate, up-to-date, and good content rises in search engine results. Solutions often involve understanding and leveraging a range of mediums and outlets, including earned and owned media, business profiles, social media, Wikipedia, video, thought leadership, among others.
    • Digital Crisis Management and Recovery: We work hand-in-hand with clients and their teams to ensure that crisis communications efforts are reflected and synched in the online space, optimizing all available digital resources and platforms to help clients navigate and recover from the crisis.
    • Wikipedia Management: Since it’s often any company or individual’s first search result, Wikipedia is an essential element for online reputation. We help clients create, assess, and manage Wikipedia pages, with the goal of ensuring accurate and fair coverage while adhering to its policies and community guidelines. BSG can also monitor your Wikipedia to ensure you are always aware of what is being added.

    ###

  • BULLPEN BRIEF: New Paper Analyzes the Risk of Social Media Activity to the Financial System

    A new pre-print paper published by academics from universities in the United States, France, and Spain analyzes data from Twitter during this spring’s run on Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) to find “a novel channel of bank run risk that is unique to the social media era” – and that other financial institutions face similar risks going forward. From the paper:

    “In this paper, we present evidence that social media did, indeed, contribute to the run on SVB. More importantly, our analysis suggests that other banks face similar risks. …

    “One core insight is that SVB faced a novel channel of bank run risk that is unique to the social media era. SVB depositors active on social media played a central role in the bank run. These depositors were concentrated and highly networked through the venture capital industry and founder networks on Twitter, amplifying other bank run risks. More importantly, SVB is not the only bank to face this novel risk channel: Open communication by depositors via social media increased the bank run risk for other banks that were ex ante exposed to such discussions in social media.”

    First reported by Axios, the paper helps us further understand how this dynamic constitutes “a new risk to the financial system.”

    The paper examines the impact Twitter users had on what became the largest bank run in history, with $42 billion withdrawn in a single day – $4.2 billion an hour, or more than $1 million per second for ten hours straight.

    The study’s authors attempted to answer whether the collapse was caused by the vast number of individuals Tweeting about the event as it was unfolding, or if this activity just exacerbated the situation. What they found was that a large spike in Tweets by influential members of the startup community – who were also “apparent depositors in SVB” – led to negative bank returns and in turn, stock market losses. While the paper did not have readily available data on deposit outflows, they believe outflows and stock prices are “likely highly correlated.”

    The idea that a large amount of people would be able to coordinate such an event like a bank run seemed too far fetch even a few years ago. As Christoph Schiller, a Finance Professor at Arizona State University and coauthor of this paper said, “that was a difficult thing to do” until recently.

    These increasingly complex dynamics highlight the growing need for companies, investors, and other players to have always-on, professional monitoring systems to alert them in real-time to emerging risks from a range of potential sources, including social media, online organizing, news outlets, etc. At BSG, we have a range of service offerings that do exactly that, helping clients anticipate, monitor, and manage these types of risks in a highly organized, data-driven manner.

    ###

  • BULLPEN BRIEF: New Study: S&P 500 Companies’ Concerns About Public Policy Risks “Have Increased Dramatically Over The Past Decade”

    A new study conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and covered by The Wall Street Journal last week, found that S&P 500 companies now report government policies and regulations pose a far greater threat to how corporations conduct their business compared to a decade ago.

    For the study, the Chamber reviewed a decade (2011-2021) of 10-K filings (comprehensive reports filed annually by publicly traded U.S. companies) from companies listed on the S&P 500. The review found that these companies mentioned how government actions pose a potential risk to their business about 325,000 times in 2021 – a 27 percent increase over 2011. As the report reads:

    “According to data in publicly available reports, large publicly traded companies’ concerns about public policy risks—like changes in taxes, regulations, and enforcement—have increased dramatically over the past decade, compared to other risks. This sentiment was measured by tracking terms found in regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).”

    The reason for this sharp increase in public policy risks? The study states that the “increasingly partisan” approach to lawmaking in Washington and “a growing willingness by both parties to pursue aggressive policy changes through regulation” – rather than legislation – are key drivers:

    “The most prominent drivers behind this significant jump in public policy risks are constant shifts in power in Washington, an increasingly partisan approach to lawmaking, and a growing willingness by both parties to pursue aggressive policy changes through regulation rather than congressional legislation.”

    At BSG, we strongly believe the best path for companies in this increasingly challenging environment is to build teams and systems to anticipate, monitor, and manage policy, political, and competitive risk on a day-to-day basis. That’s also the conclusion of the study’s authors:

    “Like other risks, companies must anticipate, monitor, manage, and, when necessary, mitigate risks posed from changes in public policy. This includes closely monitoring public policy developments, engaging with policymakers, and – as we saw for example in response to trade restrictions – adjusting their business operations.”

    ###

  • Bullpen Strategy Group Adds Rob Engstrom As Senior Advisor, Grows Team With New Additions

    WASHINGTON, DC – Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) today announced the addition of leading corporate and political advocacy strategist Rob Engstrom as Senior Advisor.

    Most recently, Engstrom served as Chief Political Strategist at the American Bankers Association, and previously spent nearly 20 years in a range of top roles at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, serving as a senior advisor, senior vice president, and national political director. Leading the Chamber’s national political, grassroots, and election-related activities, Engstrom was the organization’s chief liaison to more than 2,000 state and local chambers of commerce and trade associations. A strategic advisory firm founded in 2019, BSG has grown to nearly 50 team members with offices in Washington, DC, London, and Dallas.

    Bullpen further announced three new staff additions: Carter Reese as Vice President and Jared Beard as Director in the Research practice, and Conor Burke as Associate in the Media Intelligence practice, based in Bullpen’s London office.

    “Rob Engstrom is among the brightest and most respected strategists in Washington, and we’re very excited to add him to the team at Bullpen,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “Rob has spent decades leading on some of the most important policy and public affairs debates facing the U.S. business community – experience that will pay great dividends for Bullpen’s growing set of corporate clients.

    “Further, we continue to build up expertise in our Research and Media Intelligence practice areas with strong additions in Carter, Jared, and Conor.”

    ###

  • Bullpen Strategy Group Expands Partnership, Promotes Seven

    WASHINGTON, DC – Bullpen Strategy Group (BSG) today announced the expansion of its partnership with the promotion of Pelham Groom from Managing Director to Partner. For the last three years, Groom has led BSG’s media intelligence offering, which has team members from London to DC to the Rocky Mountains and serves a wide range of international corporate clients. A strategic advisory firm founded in 2019, BSG has grown to nearly 50 employees with offices in Washington, DC, London, and Dallas.

    BSG further announced the promotions of Michael Ahrens, Joe Chaudoin, Olivia Perez-Cubas, and Michael Zona to Managing Director, Luke Marchant to Senior Vice President, and Thomas Dee to Director. These are key leaders in BSG’s core practice areas: communications, research, and media intelligence.

    “Pelham has built a best-in-class media intelligence offering over the last several years that delivers high-quality insights and analysis to our clients every day,” said BSG CEO Joe Pounder. “With Pelham’s leadership and our significant investment in technology and data resources, BSG is charting the future of media intelligence, helping our clients navigate today’s complex, fast-paced news environment.”

    “These promotions reflect the deep base of talent and expertise that we continue to build at BSG to help our clients address challenges and meet their objectives. We’re proud to see these leaders continue to grow and evolve as practitioners and professionals at BSG.”

  • Blog Post: How Public Affairs Professionals Should Respond To Uncertainty About Social Media Platforms

    Over the last decade, social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have become increasingly influential in shaping the debate around politics and public policy. Professionals in the public affairs industry rely on these channels to add their perspectives to the narrative and reach both decision makers and stakeholders.

    Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has meant layoffs, lively discussions about changes to the platform, and a spike in interest in migration to platforms like Mastodon. TikTok remains under scrutiny by regulators due to national security and privacy concerns. Governors in at least eight states have banned the platform and lawmakers in Washington have introduced a bill to ban the platform. Facebook continues to shift from news and politics as it eyes the Metaverse. Every platform has varying policies about advertising around public policy issues that change with little rhyme or reason.

    With the future of crucial social media platforms in doubt and their policies towards public affairs and politics, what is the right strategy for the industry as it balances the power of the platforms and the uncertainty of their status?

    How should brands public affairs respond?

    Clearly Articulate Your Goals For Social Media Engagement

    Answering the question “Why are we using social media?” with a specific, credible reason is a prerequisite to being effective. Yes, social media platforms give you a space to publish and distribute content online, but the same can be said of your corporate website. The benefit of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others are the network effects they provide in reaching significant audiences at scale.

    Merely maintaining a presence on social media may be the extent of your strategy, but if your goals extend beyond that, having clearly articulated outcomes and ways to measure them are essential. This should shift your mindset from something akin to “We have 5,000 followers on Twitter” to “Engagement on Twitter ensures our digital content reaches our key audiences.”

    Go All-In On Owned Audiences

    Your organization’s social media platforms are, in reality, shared with the companies that host them. You have some control over content, but the social media companies determine how widely it is distributed and you cannot take the underlying data about who your followers are with you.

    Effective digital marketing efforts are rooted in the idea of building and nurturing owned audiences. This means investing in your own email lists, web properties, and other channels that you control. These should be the primary sources for distributing news, content, and messages to your stakeholders.

    This does not mean abandoning social media altogether; rather it is a shift in emphasis. Social media should build up your owned audiences. Always have “one foot out of the door” in the event that a social media company goes away or their policies disrupt your strategy.

    Create Your Own Social Space

    It’s easier than ever to maintain your own social media community with platforms like Discourse and Discord. With these applications you can establish forums for members, employees, and other stakeholders to stay up to date on the issues that matter to them.

    By adding a social layer like chats, replies, and direct messages, your internal social platforms can become organizing hubs for additional activity – the network effects seen elsewhere.

    Identify And Partner With Creators And Influencers

    Your target audience is fragmented across multiple social networks and maintaining a presence on all of them is neither effective nor practical. Now, you have to factor in the risk and controversy of a social network as well. So how do you ensure that your perspective is still seen and your content still reaches these audiences?

    Partner with content creators and influencers who already have audiences and reach on social networks to distribute your content and communicate with their followers. They’ve done the hard work of building up a community and have the trust of their fans. Your relationship with content creators and influencers should be an equal partnership because they know what will work and what won’t.

    Tap Into Your Members’ and Employees’ Networks

    Similarly, your members and employees are also active on their own social media platforms and are influential to their networks. But they may not feel confident or safe speaking about your issues. Give them the confidence they need with approved, timely, and relevant messages they can share. Again, trust is a key factor and you are handing some level of control over, but it’s a tradeoff worth making.

    Conclusion

    Public affairs professionals have been struggling with the changes in social media over the last few years. The upheavals with Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok have caused many to re-think their strategies. However, by clearly articulating your goals for social media engagement, going all-in on owned audiences and creating your own social space, you can navigate these changes and continue to be effective in reaching your stakeholders.

    Eric Wilson is a Senior Vice President at Bullpen Strategy Group. He leads the Bullpen Technology Group and advises clients on digital marketing.