"From A Request To A Demand"

It sounds like the We Campaign might be about to bring a gun to a knife fight.

GMP1 just received this (mass) email from We Campaign communications director Giselle Barry:

I want to make sure you know about a new ad that started airing today. "Free Us" starts with the phrase 'To our leaders,' and will air during both upcoming political conventions. It completes an important shift in the We Campaign's messaging.



This new ad focuses specifically on the challenge to Repower America by generating 100% of our electricity from clean sources within 10 years. This was also true of our recently seen "Switch" ad (watch the "Switch" ad.) These ads, along with the T. Boone Pickens' media buy mean that millions of Americans are now hearing about big goals - with real targets and immediate timelines. The notion that the best way to rebuild our economy is to make a dramatic shift in our energy mix is now getting critical attention.

"Free Us" takes a different tone from our previous ads. While the first We Campaign ads offered a general invitation to the movement for climate solutions, this ad issues a direct challenge. While showing what a transformed economy looks like, the ad also hints at a transformation among the American people. It explicitly moves from a request to a demand.

"From a request to a demand".

Rip. It.

But the We Campaign must remember that while national TV ads and op-eds in the Washington Post and big Al Gore speeches are lots of fun, it only really counts if you have an aggressive grassroots lobbying strategy to kick the living shit out of disagreeable politicians back in their home districts.

The energy "status-quo" is dug in tighter than a tick.

And changing it is going to take real fight.

What wonderful fun!