News
WPAi Announces New Hire Conor Maguire
[imge_pdf_viewer url=https://wpaintel.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/WPAi_CMaguireM_pressrelease20171016.pdf]
Chris Wilson discussing Hurricane Harvey
The first thing that people are looking for right now is safety. This isn’t over yet and there are still people in substantial danger. So people want their leaders to do what it takes to get them to safety and make sure that the places they’re taking refuge are safe places.
Once the immediate danger is past then there is going to be a lot of concern for getting to a stable situation, back home if possible but out of the shelters and back to something more like a normal life. In an event like this, where entire neighborhoods have been catastrophically flooded, that’s going to be tough. But no one wants to be in limbo forever and they want their leaders to reassure them that there is a plan and a schedule to get them home or to a new home.
There will also inevitably be issues that come up during the rebuilding. Everything from repairing infrastructure to dealing with insurance issues. And people expect their leaders to make good decisions and have a plan in place to see them through the, potentially multi-year, process of getting back to “normal”
WPA Research Announces Change to WPA Intelligence
Still Offering Superior Polling,
WPA Intelligence Leads the Way in Data, Analytics and Technology
APRIL 11, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Chris Wilson
PR@wpaintel.com 202-470-6300
WASHINGTON – Today, WPA Opinion Research announces that it is changing the name of the company to WPA Intelligence (WPAi).
While WPAi will still provide the same industry leading, highly-respected polling and survey research, WPAi has become an industry leader in data analytics, predictive modeling and technology. “Research” was no longer fully descriptive of what the company does.
“WPA needed a name that better describes our services”, said WPA Intelligence founding partner and CEO Chris Wilson, the former Director of Research, Analytics and Digital Strategy on the Cruz for President campaign. “We are an intelligence company. We provide political intelligence, public affairs intelligence, marketing intelligence and corporate intelligence. While this includes survey research, it is increasingly about data, analytics and technology to manage these data.”
WPAi has lead the way in innovating the use of predictive analysis to deliver exceedingly accurate intelligence in the fields of politics, business, marketing, and public affairs.
“We are thrilled to take the next step forward for our company and the industry,” said WPA Intelligence’s Chief Research Officer and Partner Bryon Allen. “The entire process is moving away from just using data based on demographics to collecting and analyzing data at the individual level. We help companies and candidates understand their target audiences in new, different, and unprecedented ways so they understand at a very granular level the right way and right message to communicate.”
“Having spent the last 20 years working in data and analytics in the US and around the globe, I can attest to the fact WPAi is making incredible progress in allowing candidates and organizations to target activists, donors, and voters in unprecedented ways,” added WPAi COO Alex Muir. “We are excited about our future at WPA, and look forward to continuing our pursuit of excellence at every level.”
###
How Ted Cruz Engineered His Iowa Triumph
At just about 9 p.m. local time, the leadership of Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign moved like a phalanx through the lobby of the Des Moines Marriott Downtown toward vehicles that would transport them to the Iowa State Fairgrounds, where Cruz was holding his caucus-night party. With three-quarters of Iowa’s precincts counted and with the race, according to television networks, still “too close to call,” campaign manager Jeff Roe declared victory.
The boldest smile belonged to Chris Wilson, the campaign’s pollster and director of analytics. The night before, Wilson had sent his final memo on the Iowa campaign, predicting turnout under 170,000; only if it broke above 190,000 would Cruz have to worry. “For now we look pretty on target,” Wilson smirked as he dragged luggage that would shortly accompany him to New Hampshire and then South Carolina. “That’s a good thing. It means I still have my job.”
To read the rest of the article on Bloomberg, click here.
Big data is the new ground game – how Ted Cruz won Iowa
In the days proceeding the Iowa caucus, as the media fussed about the unpredictability of the horserace, confidence quietly swelled within the Cruz campaign. “Data,” said a high-level Cruz campaign operative on election night, “is huge.”
In fact, data was critical to Cruz’s win in the first vote of the 2016 campaign.
Read the article on Tech Republic here.
WPAi Announces Hiring of Ashlee Rich Stephenson
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 16, 2017
CONTACT: Chris Wilson
PR@WPAINTEL.COM | 202-470-6300
WASHINGTON, DC –WPAi, a national leader in research, analytics and data science, announced the hiring of Ashlee Rich Stephenson as a Senior Vice President.
Stephenson has spent the last decade in the research and strategy space, most recently serving the last five years as the Managing Partner of Just Win Strategies, a national consulting firm. Just Win guided a host of successful and marquee victories on behalf of their political and public affairs clients – including the campaigns of Senator Joni Ernst (IA-SEN), the race that flipped the U.S. Senate in 2014 and Congressman Jason Lewis (MN-02) this past cycle, which Stu Rothenberg named “one of the biggest upsets of 2016.”
Stephenson’s experience spans from presidential campaigns to guiding corporate interests in their strategic and research endeavors. Her experience includes stints in the RNC Strategy Department (2005-2006), serving as the Polling Director for Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s presidential operation, and from 2008-2012 she worked at The Tarrance Group, a national Republican survey research firm. In 2011, Stephenson directed the data driven voter contact program for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s historic Iowa Straw Poll Victory, and in 2012 moderated focus groups among swing female voters on behalf of Romney for President. In the 2016 cycle, Stephenson’s firm, Just Win, served in strategic roles for Governor Scott Walker and Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential efforts.
WPAi CEO Chris Wilson issued the following comments about the hiring of Ashlee Stephenson: “The addition of Ashlee and her extraordinary skillset brings a tremendous value to our clients. Ashlee’s credentials and knowledge in the research space, paired with having played a senior role in nationally recognized political wins, offer our clients guidance from a strategist who not only understands data, but has proven its effectiveness when utilized to drive decision making across the entirety of a campaign, public affairs or corporate program.”
“The WPAi team has developed an unmatched set of capabilities and products in the analytics and survey research space,” said Stephenson. “Having had the wonderful opportunity to work with Chris Wilson and team on a host of successful ventures over the last cycle, I know firsthand WPAi is leading our industry in innovation when it comes to combining the powerful tools of data science and traditional market research. I am personally thrilled to be joining a growing company that is pioneering the future of analytics in the political and public affairs space.”
Recognized for her professional accomplishments, Stephenson was inducted into the American Association of Political Consultant’s 40 under 40 inaugural class in 2015, and named a “Rising Star” by Campaigns and Elections Magazine in 2014.
###