The "Odd Couple"
When you walk into the Grassroots Enterprise office in Washington, DC, you might notice something strange. On your left (appropriately) is the office for John Hlinko, an ardent Democrat who helped lead MoveOn.org in its early days. On your right (of course) is the office for Bill McIntyre, the former chief national spokesman for the NRA. And when you look to our list of senior advisors, you will see Mike McCurry, former spokesman for President Clinton, and Randy Tate, former executive director of the Christian Coalition.
Now, you might be thinking... "what gives here? Democrats and Republicans? MoveOn.org and the NRA? Cats and dogs?"
But you see, here at Grassroots Enterprise, we don't think of it as "oil and water" but rather "peanut butter and jelly." Sure, sometimes grassroots movements need to reside on either the left or the right side of the aisle. But the most powerful grassroots movements - the real "grand slams" - are the ones that figure out ways to find common ground and common interests.
And even when you're selling a product and not a cause, the reality is that the same techniques that work on the left might not work on the right. To be most effective, and to get the most bang for the buck, you need to understand what motivates different segments of your target audience most effectively. And of course, you need to be reaching for 100% of them - not just 50%.
Think we're wrong? Think we're kidding ourselves? Go ahead. Send us a cause or product which you're "100% sure" is just for righties or lefties - and let our Odd Couple team give you a second opinion.
Featured Project
2006
DC Olympic Committee
GRE seized the coming of the 2006 winter Olympics to demonstrate the power of combining creativity and technology.
To advocate for voting rights for the District of Columbia, GRE drew comparison to other U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam who have their own Olympic teams, and established a DC Olympic Curling Team to make a bid for participation in the quirky sport at the Games in Turin, Italy.
