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“That was the
moment we realized
something had to
be done to simplify
the system.”
- Chris Wilson
ICYMI: POLITICO:
WPA’s New App
Promises Obama-Style Data Management
02/08/2017
By Elena Schneider
The GOP consulting firm WPA Research has a new resource on offer for 2018 campaigns: Archie.
The nickname, used by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s political team, refers not to a staffer but to
a new web app formally known by its creators as Archimedes, after the Greek mathematician
who said, “Give me a lever and I can move the world.” The program’s architects say it
represents the latest step in Republican efforts to match Democrats in data collection,
synchronization and modeling — and in making those tools available and accessible for
down-ballot campaigns.
The program allows campaigns to work across all formats and vendors to collect data in one
place, whether from donors or volunteers or voter lists. Campaign staffers will be able to use
the app to generate models, target audiences, cut lists and produce data visualization tools to
make strategic decisions. Smaller campaigns, subject to contracted agreements, will be able to
access data from statewide campaigns in their states, too.
“We want to give campaigns an easy way for them to work with data, an easy way to take in
data, an easy way to visualize it, an easy way to export it and an easy way to utilize it,” said
Chris Wilson, the CEO of WPA Research, who was the director of research, analytics and
strategy on Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign. “This is the start, where a campaign
can manage every aspect of its data.”
“Analytics firms haven’t had access to every single piece of data that’s being generated by the
campaign, except at the presidential level,” said Bryon Allen, WPA’s chief research officer. “At
the presidential level, the big campaigns that can afford a large, in-house data operation, have
generally done an effort to get all their data together and work with it. But with campaigns
below that level, you usually have a data manager, sitting in an office, and sometimes that’s just
a kid with an Excel spreadsheet.”
Wilson said Archimedes grew from his own frustrations on the presidential trail with Cruz.
“Tom Schultz, our data director, did a schematic of it, drew a schematic on my whiteboard
of all our data inputs and outputs, all our various sources of campaign data. It frighteningly
resembled an Obamacare schematic. Like something woven by an insane spider,” Wilson said.
“That was the moment we realized something had to be done to simplify the system.”
A R C H I M E D E S
CAMPAIGN
DATA SOURCES
WEBSERVER
LAYER
WPA INTELLIGENCE CAMPAIGN EXTERNAL
RESOURCES
Field Tablets
Phone Vendor
DigitalVendor
TV Targeter
E-mail System
APIs / Scripted
Imports
Analytics
Query and Export
National Database
Client Data Escrow
Strategy Dashboard
Data Visualization
Field Data
Digital Ads
Live Polling/
Analysis IVR
Ad Viewership
Finance Database
E-mail/Web/Social