By FP1 Strategies
FP1 won seven Pollie and Reed Awards in 2024 for our television and digital advertising work that launched Tim Sheehy’s U.S. Senate campaign in Montana.
A decorated combat veteran and successful businessman, Tim Sheehy is one of NRSC Chairman Steve Daines’ top recruits of the 2024 cycle. At the start of the campaign, it was widely believed that firebrand Congressman Matt Rosendale, a member of House Freedom Caucus with strong grassroots support in Montana, would run against Sheehy for the GOP nomination to take on three-term Democratic incumbent Senator Jon Tester.
In a benchmark poll conducted by the NRSC in March of 2023, Rosendale was leading Tim Sheehy by a commanding margin of 71% to 12%. In July, FP1 launched a statewide television and digital advertising campaign to introduce Sheehy to Montana voters and cut into Rosendale’s sizeable advantage.
In many ways, Tim Sheehy is from central casting. He is a former Navy SEAL who met his wife at the Naval Academy. He earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Valor for being wounded in combat and for running into enemy fire to save the life of a wounded SEAL. After his military service, Sheehy and his wife, Carmen, moved to Montana and built several successful businesses, including an aerial firefighting company and a cattle ranch and feeding operation, employing over 200 Montanans. Tim and Carmen Sheehy are also raising their four young children in Montana, all of whom were born in the state.
Our 2023 advertising campaign focused on Sheehy’s impressive bio credentials. We ran a series of ads on his military service and the good-paying jobs he has created in Montana. We deployed 60s, 30s and 15s to drive Sheehy’s bio credentials and increase his name ID and ballot share. These spots highlighted the values that Sheehy learned in the military and effectively defined him as a patriot who is running a campaign about God, service and country, not politics as usual. Our advertising campaign exceeded all our expectations. We were hopeful to get Sheehy within 10 points of Rosendale by the end of 2023. In a late October survey conducted by Fabrizio & Lee, Donald Trump’s pollster, Sheehy was leading Rosendale by a margin of 38% to 35%, an amazing shift in the ballot from where the race started in March. A November 12-14 poll by the GOP firm Co-Efficient saw even greater movement in the primary ballot with Sheehy leading Rosendale by a margin of 40% to 24%.
These strong polling numbers helped Tim Sheehy secure Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement and drove Matt Rosendale out of the primary race, giving Sheehy a clear shot at Jon Tester.
Watch our award-winning ads for Tim Sheehy:
Here is a full listing of the Sheehy ads that won creative awards this year:
###