WASHINGTON, DC – Friday evening, DSPolitical – the nation’s leading voter targeted digital ad network for Democrats and progressives – was honored at the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) 2018 Annual Pollie Awards. In addition to DSPolitical winning three awards for digital advertising campaigns for New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Virginia State Delegate Danica Roem, and DemocraticAds.com winning one trophy for its work with Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane, DSPolitical partner and chief technology officer Mark Jablonowski was named to the Association’s “40 under 40” list recognizing “40 of the best and brightest young political professionals under 40 years old working in the United States.”

“With Trump casting a massive shadow over our politics, it is gratifying to know that our peers recognize the quality work we do each day to put the power of our unrivaled data and near universal reach into the hands of Democratic campaigns and progressive causes up and down the ballot,” said Christopher Massicotte, a DSPolitical partner.

“We’re humbled by the recognition our work has received – it serves as a tremendous source of inspiration and motivation as we continue to innovate in these final months before the midterm elections,” said Jennifer Holdsworth, the firm’s chief revenue officer.

The firm’s 2018 Pollies included:

• Silver – Best Digital or Internet Campaign (Democrat) for DSPolitical’s work with Media Fortitude Partners on Phil Murphy’s campaign for New Jersey Governor.
• Silver – Best Internet Advertising in a Mayoral Campaign for DSPolitical’s work with Compass Campaign Strategies to utilize DemocraticAds.com to help re-elect Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane.
• Silver – Best Use of Internet Advertising in a State Legislative Campaign for DSPolitical’s work with The New Media Firm on Danica Roem’s groundbreaking campaign for Virginia Delegate.
• Bronze – Best Use of Internet Advertising in a Gubernatorial Campaign for DSPolitical’s work with Media Fortitude Partners on Phil Murphy’s campaign for New Jersey Governor.

Being placed on the “40 under 40” list adds to Jablonowski’s already impressive collection of recent accolades including being named “Technology Leader of the Year” at the inaugural Campaign Tech Awards and to Washington COMPOL Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Political Professionals of the Year.”

“I count myself as incredibly lucky. I get to wake up each morning knowing with certainty that the work I am do – that we all do at DSPolitical – is helping to power the resistance during these troubling political times,” said Jablonowski. “Being recognized for something I am so passionate about is just icing on the cake.”

About the Winning Work:

Phil Murphy for New Jersey Governor: DSPolitical and Media Fortitude Partners’ work with Phil Murphy was honored for their bold decision to spend a heavy portion of the campaign’s budget online, focusing on voter targeted programmatic digital advertising. The team identified the 400,000 New Jersey voters who would be critical to defeating Chris Christie’s handpicked successor, and engaged those voters early and often, ensuring a convincing victory in November.

Danica Roem for Virginia Delegate: The first transgender American elected to and seated in a state legislature, Danica Roem faced a different challenge in her race against the incumbent who referred to himself as “Virginia’s Chief Homophobe.” DSPolitical and The New Media Firm worked with her to craft an issues-forward campaign based on local concerns, while her opponent relied on personal and bigoted attacks. By crafting an audience of about 16,000 voters who were either moderates or Democrats who may not reliably vote in an off-year election, we engaged just the right people with the perfect messages to help power Roem to victory.

Nancy McFarlane for Raleigh Mayor: Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane was facing the most challenging re-election campaign she’d ever seen, but Compass Campaign Strategies knew that DSPolitical’s DemocraticAds.com was the perfect self-service platform to get voter targeted digital ads in front of the right audience for the first round of voting, and an entirely different audience in the runoff. DemocraticAds.com’s powerful targeting, ease of use, and clear reporting made sure that she was reaching the right voters at the right time with the right messages.

About Mark Jablonowski

Mark is a partner and Chief Technology Officer at DSPolitical. In that capacity, he has overseen the development of DemocraticAds.com, DSPolitical’s award-winning self-serve voter targeted digital advertising platform that puts the same technology used by national campaigns with huge budgets into the hands of local and down-ballot Democrats. It is no exaggeration to say that DemocraticAds.com has revolutionized the way local and down-ballot Democratic candidates reach voters.

Since its 2014 launch, Mark and his team have spent thousands of hours fine tuning and improving the platform. In 2016, DemocraticAds.com partnered with NGP VAN, the primary voter engagement tool for nearly every Democratic campaign in America. The partnership put DemocraticAds.com at the fingertips of thousands of Democratic campaigns right from within VAN. As a result, the platform assisted more than 500 campaigns and served ads in all 50 states during the 2016 election cycle.

Before joining DSPolitical, Mark served as Chief Technology Officer at the Presidential Inaugural Committee, where he oversaw all technical, communication, and data issues and helped to create the most open and accessible inauguration in American history. He joined President Obama’s 2008 campaign before the New Hampshire primary and traveled the country managing regional IT operations until he landed at Chicago headquarters as IT special projects manager and regional IT director.

Always the innovator, while he was working to elect Obama, Mark also co-founded Atlas Voter Protection, an online tool that the Obama campaign used to manage its voter protection operations. The tool was updated and used by the Democratic National Committee during several elections.

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