A REPUTATION FOR EXCELLENCE
Our firm’s principals have produced national television ads for six American presidential campaigns including Presidents Biden and Obama. We’ve served as lead ad makers and strategists for campaigns in 48 states, and we have helped elect 11 U.S. senators, 12 U.S. governors and 83 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. We’ve also produced ads for two overseas parliamentary campaigns.
“Putnam’s ads have done it again and again.”
- CNN
See more of our highlighted ads below.
In 2022, Putnam Partners’ candidates far outperformed expectations in a year that was supposed to be terrible for Democrats. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold all won re-election by wide margins. In our U.S. House campaigns, we helped re-elect five incumbents and created winning ads for seven new Members. We also helped re-elect 11 House Members through our work with the DCCC IE and House Majority PAC. On ballot measures, we created the advertising that helped pass voting reform in Michigan and a higher minimum wage in Nebraska, both by double-digit margins. We also continued our record of creating the most viral videos in Democratic politics with nearly 6M views each for Chris Jones’ (AR-Gov) and Charles Graham’s (NC-07) launch videos.
In 2020, Putnam Partners was proud to be part of the team helping elect President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris through our work as the ad creator for Unite the Country – the longest serving Biden super pac that helped him win the South Carolina primary with advertising featuring Rep. Jim Clyburn, as well as the Super Tuesday contests and Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona in the general election. We helped our 20-year client, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, win re-election in a state where Democrats lost the presidential and U.S. Senate campaigns. And we protected all of our incumbents, helping re-elect Representatives Chrissy Houlahan, Andy Kim, Elaine Luria, Carolyn Maloney, Joe Neguse, Elissa Slotkin, Jennifer Wexton, and Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond. We also produced winning advertising for the DCCC and House Majority PAC – helping flip GA-07, one of only three campaigns to flip from red to blue, as well as helping defend Democratic incumbents in GA-06, VA-07 and IL-14.
In 2018, we played a leading role in helping Democrats recapture the House of Representatives, producing advertising in 16 of the 40 seats Democrats flipped from red to blue. We also produced two of the most viral political ads in campaign history – each for first time, female, veteran candidates running for the House. “Told Me” for Amy McGrath in Kentucky and “Doors” for MJ Hegar in Texas catapulted two otherwise underdog candidates into the national spotlight and helped them raise millions for their campaigns. We also helped elect Governors Michelle Lujan Grisham in New Mexico and Ned Lamont in Connecticut, and our advertising for Governor Gina Raimondo helped her turn an anticipated close re-election into a 15 point landslide victory.
In 2016, despite the Donald Trump-driven Republican rout across much of the country, we helped Attorney General Roy Cooper unseat Governor Pat McCrory in North Carolina — one of only two Republican governors unseated since 2007 and the first North Carolina governor ever defeated for re-election. We also helped first-time candidate Levar Stoney win an upset mayoral campaign in the first round of voting (avoiding a runoff) in Richmond, Virginia. Another highlight of 2016 was producing the most heralded political ad in many years for Jason Kander’s campaign for U.S. Senate in Missouri. The ad, which featured Jason assembling an assault weapon while blindfolded, helped him nearly pull off the upset of the year. Jason lost by only three points in a state that Hillary Clinton lost by 19.
In 2014, because of the Republican wave across most of the country, Democrats only won four out of 14 “toss up” gubernatorial campaigns (as ranked by Real Clear Politics). We produced the advertising for two of the four Democratic wins — Governor John Hickenlooper’s re-election in Colorado and Governor Gina Raimondo’s open seat win in Rhode Island. Governor Raimondo’s victory included coming from behind to win the Democratic nomination in a tough three-way primary. We also helped U.S. Senator Tom Udall and State Auditor Tim Keller win their campaigns in New Mexico. In all, we helped win four statewide campaigns in 2014 — a winning record that set us apart in a very difficult year.
In 2012, we produced the advertising for Heidi Heitkamp’s surprise U.S. Senate win in North Dakota — a victory The Washington Post called “amazing.” As members of the Obama Media Team, we created the widely heralded “47 Percent” television ad that the Los Angeles Times and Politico called “the best” TV ad of the year. And we were proud to produce winning re-election advertising for U.S. Senators Ben Cardin in Maryland and Bob Casey in Pennsylvania. We also helped elect six new U.S. Representatives with our work for the House Majority PAC.
