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SMC’s second acquisition integrates SaaS platform linking global behavioral, transactional and attitudinal data

Maru brings new, global capabilities to SMC. Maru’s SaaS solution, HUB, is a fully scalable survey platform that allows in-house marketers to analyze behavioral, transactional, and attitudinal data all in one place. With tens of millions of survey completes processed a year, the Maru/HUB platform manages research from ad-hoc studies to global trackers. Partnerships with 14 vetted sample partners worldwide allow Maru to connect clients with expertly profiled respondents.  

“Stagwell is pleased to add this sophisticated ‘research as a service’ partner,” said Mark Penn, chairman, and CEO, Stagwell. “Maru will be a great addition to our Stagwell Marketing Cloud and round out our research offering from full-service analytical to do it yourself. Maru is research built for enterprise scale but in simple, convenient and affordable ways.” 

“From full service to self-service, SMC believes marketers need to integrate connected technologies to stay ahead and drive business growth in the modern digital economy. This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to that belief,” said Elspeth Rollert, chief marketing officer, SMC. “We pride ourselves on a commitment to entrepreneurs like Ged Parton who are building the future of connected brand ecosystems, and we’re thrilled to have the Maru Group team join SMC.” 

Maru strengthens SMC’s global, blue-chip client list and presence including Buenos Aires, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Southampton, Toronto, and Vancouver.  

“Maru’s suite provides real-time access to insight and results, bringing into one ecosystem adaptive interpretation of behavioral, transactional, and attitudinal consumer data,” said Ged Parton, CEO, Maru Group. “By joining SMC, we’re scaling our services to some of the fastest-growing brands worldwide and translating our belief that understanding the intersection between behavior and emotion is critical to establishing the strongest possible consumer connection to drive better business results.”  

Maru joins SMC as its second acquisition amid an accelerated focus on technology-based marketing innovation from parent company Stagwell. In July 2022, SMC acquired Apollo Program.  

SMC’s leadership team is growing with the appointment of former Accenture Applied Intelligence Practice lead Mansoor Basha as chief technology officer. Mansoor joins Matthew Lochner, managing director; Abe Geiger, chief product officer; and Elspeth Rollert, chief marketing officer.  

Products across the suite are picking up momentum, too, as marketing professionals race to integrate technology. In August 2022, ARound – a shared augmented reality solution for live events  – launched in partnership with the Minnesota Twins, bringing the world’s first stadium-level shared A.R. experience to life. Further, PRophet, Stagwell’s AI-powered tool for predicting the success of media pitches, has launched “2.0” enhanced by partnerships with PeakMetrics, Podchaser, and The Harris Poll. 

Stephens Inc. served as advisor to Maru Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Stagwell is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world’s most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our 13,000+ specialists in 34+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.  

By Mark Penn 

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Quick, tell me when your state’s primary was. Odds are, most Americans can’t.

Seems like democracy is much threatened these days, and yet no one seems to care much about voting in the most important elections in the country – the primary elections. While turnout has surged in general elections, up to 67% in the last presidential race, it has gone nowhere in primary elections, with most getting between 20% and 40% of voters to the polls. But there are simple reforms that could go a long way toward fixing the primary problem.

As more and more of the country is one-party territory, these primary elections really determine who governs in America and sets the ideological makeup of our leaders. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most outspoken members of Congress and a leader of the “squad,” was elected with fewer than 17,000 votes in a Congressional district that has nearly 700,000 people. She was able to win by mobilizing a small number of activists while the average voter was sleeping. Turnout among eligible Democrats in that key race was 13%, similar to many primaries across the country. Even in this year’s hotly contested primary for squad member Ilhan Omar, only 27% of the voters turned out.

Not only are primaries scattered over 20-odd dates from March to September, but the big money flows to partisan efforts that operate under the guise of being nonpartisan. Many nonprofit civic groups today are just taxpayer-funded partisan efforts to register voters in favorable areas or redistrict for the benefit of one party. Former Democrat Attorney General Eric Holder’s National Redistricting Foundation uses litigation to challenge gerrymandering, but seemingly only where it hurts Democrats. Youth registration–focused Rock the Vote claims to be nonpartisan, but its president released a statement explicitly lamenting Trump’s 2016 victory. Donors simply care more about who wins rather than about making the process more open, fair, and democratic, letting the chips fall where they may.

In a slew of swing-state Senate primaries in May 2022 for elections that will likely determine control of Congress, well under half of eligible voters participated. While an estimated 60% of eligible Georgians voted in the January 2021 runoffs that won the Democrats the Senate, just 27% participated in the May 2022 primary for one of those seats. Herschel Walker won the Republican nomination by receiving 800,000 votes in a state of 7 million active voters. In Ohio, only 20% of eligible voters participated in the Senate primary in which J.D. Vance cleared the Republican field. In both Georgia and Ohio, voters can participate in any party’s primary.

Things were only slightly better in Pennsylvania’s Senate primary, where 32% of eligible Democrats and 39% of eligible Republicans chose progressive John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz, respectively, over more moderate alternatives in a state that is divided quite evenly.

And these are the turnout numbers in high profile races. An abysmal 13% came out to the New York Democratic primary for governor, where Andrew Cuomo’s replacement Kathy Hochul ran for her first full term.

Low primary turnout facilitates the rise of more extreme candidates who could not otherwise be elected by a full constituency. Those who vote in primaries, especially on the right, are more strongly partisan and ideological than other Americans, according to the Brookings Institute’s 2018 Primaries Project.

Less well-known but still powerful positions like district attorney are especially vulnerable to activist candidates in a low-turnout environment. For years, left-wing billionaire George Soros has quietly given millions to “reform-minded” DA candidates, including new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Now in charge of the criminal justice system of the nation’s largest city, Bragg won his office last year in an eight-way Democratic primary that attracted just 250,000 voters, or 29% of the eligible population.

Nonpartisan primaries in which all candidates run on the same ballot may encourage moderation, but they have not solved the turnout problem so far. In Alaska, Senator Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican who voted to convict Trump of impeachment and is facing reelection this year, has survived a Trump-backed challenger so far only because the open primary allowed them both to advance to the general election. Yet just 26% of eligible Alaskans participated. Similarly, the only two Republican representatives who voted to impeach Trump and have survived their 2022 GOP primaries both did so in top-two systems, where the ballot includes all candidates regardless of party. Yet turnout was still low – 19% in California Congressman David Valadao’s district and 37% in Washington Congressman Dan Newhouse’s.

So with all of the hullabaloo over every single placement of a drop box, there is no outcry about how American democracy has been undermined with confusing, little-known primary schedules that favor activists on both sides.

To fix these problems we need to take some urgent steps. First, we need to shine light on this low participation and information as a problem. Second, we should deny tax deductibility status to nonprofits that are carrying out one-party agendas and encourage the growth of nonprofits that want high voter participation in all elections by all voters. Third, we need to set three or four regional primary days in which groups of states all hold their primaries at the same time to cut down on all the confusion of 20 or more possible dates. Further complicating this are Democratic campaigns to meddle with the primary process by deliberately providing tens of millions of dollars to extreme candidates they oppose and hope will be easier to defeat in the general election. Though unlikely to be banned outright, this practice further undermines the primary process, and hopefully the parties will agree to end it in the name of a fair democracy.

By

Natalie Oganesyan
Yahoo! Entertainment

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Assembly on August 2, 2022

Originally Released On

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NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Stagwell (NASDAQ: STGW), the challenger network built to transform marketing, announced its second-annual sponsorship of Advertising Week New York, the world’s largest annual gathering of marketing, media, and technology leaders. Stagwell will host two panels on the Advertising Week New York stage, sharing insider insights into the implications for brands of the explosion of political media spending and fresh insights from a new global survey on brand fandom. 

The panels will feature experts from Stagwell’s flagship omnichannel media agency Assembly and leading technology, content, and culture insights firm National Research Group (NRG):  

• Buzz & Devotion: The Fan Economy That Makes the Niche Mainstream in Today’s Culture – Monday 10/17 @ 1:15p: Fan culture has a powerful impact on a brand’s ascension into relevance, power and popularity. Informed by new, original research, we will bring brand experts from McDonald’s together with NRG to explore the pathways for brands to successfully build and activate a fan community. Insights from NRG’s latest thought leadership research will combine with lessons learned from the birthplace of fandom — sports and entertainment — to unlock powerful insights that help brands connect and grow their most devout and influential customers. 
• Talk Politics to Me: Why Every Brand Today Needs a Dose of Political Know-How– Thursday 10/20 @ 1:15p:  Political is THE media story of Q4 2022, and it’s never been a more critical time for all advertisers to know the rules of the game.  Join Assembly, a global omnichannel media agency – with an only-of-its-kind full-service political strategy and media practice – and experts from Lyft and SambaTV for a discussion on the path forward for brands in a politically charged media environment and the convergence of political, advocacy, and commercial advertising.  

Also at Advertising Week New York:  

In addition to staged programming, Stagwell is proud to partner with Brand Innovators to deliver access to intimate thought leadership with leading CMOs and agency experts. Sign up to follow along with insights and other content from Advertising Week New York.  

About Stagwell 

Stagwell is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world’s most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing.  Led by entrepreneurs, our 13,000+ specialists in 34+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com. 

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KWT Global
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Voter confidence in United States government institutions remains largely unchanged, according to a new survey by the Society of Presidential Pollsters at the George Washington University. However, significant majorities feel the U.S. economy and the nation as a whole are going in the wrong direction. While nearly three-quarters of Americans believe in the importance of bipartisan policy-making, a majority also believe public institutions are becoming increasingly politicized.

Views on the performance of key government institutions shifted modestly compared to last year’s survey. Voters are evenly split on whether the presidency is working and three-fifths feel Congress is not working, figures that barely budged compared to the 2021 poll. 57% of voters said the Supreme Court is working, a 2-point decline from last year and an 8-point decline since 2020. Although a majority of voters believe the Department of Justice and the FBI are performing well, the Bureau suffered a 6-point drop in confidence, while the DOJ’s performance numbers fell 4%. A slim majority of voters claim federal law enforcement agencies have become politically weaponized. Around two-thirds of voters feel democracy is under assault.

“Across a broad range of questions in this survey — from Constitutional values to the latest hot-button squabble — the responses of American voters display a profound concern with the state of our politics and the functioning of our governmental institutions,” Christopher Arterton, professor emeritus of political management and founding dean of the GW Graduate School of Political Management, said.

A strong but declining share of American voters consider bipartisanship to be a crucial component of our democracy. 71% of voters believe it is critically important for both parties to agree on major policy changes, a 7-point slide from last year’s poll, and approximately three-quarters of voters believe the bipartisan system of governing is no longer working. While nearly 9 in 10 voters over the age of 65 view bipartisanship as indispensable, just under 6 in 10 of those between the ages of 18 and 34 feel the same way.

“Almost two thirds believe that both the Congress and the Presidency are becoming more politicized and a majority think the same of many executive branch agencies,” Arterton said. “Two-thirds say that party leaders serve their party’s interest over the national interest, and almost three-quarters believe that politicians in Washington are not willing to compromise.”

The survey also questioned voters about issues that will likely influence November’s midterm elections. 34% of voters, including 60% of Republicans, still falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. 65% of voters, including 49% of Democrats, think there were at least some minor vote counting problems in the 2020 election. 51% of surveyed voters called President Biden’s decision to cancel student loan debt an improper use of executive power. Half of voters say executive orders in general are being increasingly abused and 56% say our system needs more checks and balances. 52% of voters feel the Supreme Court was right to make abortion and same-sex marriage constitutional rights, a considerable decline from the 2020 survey, largely due to a precipitous drop in Republican support.

HarrisX, on behalf of the Society of Presidential Pollsters, conducted the online survey from September 8 – 9, 2022. 1,851 registered voters participated in the survey. Results were weighted for age within gender, region, race or ethnicity, income, education, political party, and political ideology where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population. The margin for error was +/- 2.3%.

The complete results from the survey can be found here. Professor Arterton and Society of Presidential Pollsters founder Mark Penn will discuss the survey results on Wednesday, September 14, at 12:30 PM. If you would like to attend the event at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, please RSVP to Danny Parra at dparra@gwu.edu. The event will also be live streamed on the GSPM Facebook page.

The George Washington University established the Society of Presidential Pollsters in 2010. The Society acts as a membership organization for the select group of people who have served as public opinion advisors to the President of the United States. The Society aims to collect and preserve records of the polling conducted on behalf of the White House over the last eight decades.  

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OVERTURN OF ROE VS. WADE INCREASES LIKELYHOOD TO VOTE DEMOCRATIC, BUT STUDENT DEBT RELIEF HAS LITTLE NET EFFECT ON DEMOCRATS’ OUTLOOK

MOST AMERICANS WANT A NEUTRAL SPECIAL MASTER AFTER DOJ’S TRUMP RAID AND THEY OPPOSE BIDEN CALLING MAGA REPUBLICANS AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO THE COUNTRY

NEW YORK and CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Stagwell (NASDAQ: STGW) today released the results of the September Harvard-CAPS Harris Poll, a monthly collaboration between the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard (CAPS) and the Harris Poll.

President Joe Biden’s approval rating remains underwater at 41% and inflation is still the biggest concern for voters, over half of whom say the Inflation Reduction Act is more likely to increase rather than decrease inflation. But the midterms are competitive, with the Congressional ballot split at 51% Democrat, 49% Republican.

Results also show the FBI’s raid of Donald Trump’s residence has not hurt the standing of the former president, whom voters would still pick in a presidential election over Joe Biden if the 2024 election were held today,. Americans are evenly split on whether the raid was politically motivated, but a clear majority, 58%, think appointing a special master to review the documents taken by the Department of Justice is reasonable.

Other topics surveyed in this month’s poll include voter views on Biden’s Philadelphia speech and his criticism of MAGA Republicans, which is seen as divisive; the president’s student debt cancellation which has received a lukewarm reception ahead of the midterms; and voters’ call for a special prosecutor to investigate the Hunter Biden laptop story. Download key results here.

“The dynamics for a Republican surge are here but the Democrats have held the dam as the midterms remain a dead heat,” said Mark Penn, Co-Director of the Harvard-CAPS Harris Poll and Stagwell Chairman and CEO. “The Democrats’ most recent moves may have killed their momentum, though, as most Americans disapproved of Biden’s speech calling MAGA Republicans a threat to the country. His executive order canceling student debt has not attracted new voters, either. Americans want less politicization, not more.”

DEMOCRATS HOLD THE DAM AS INFLATION REMAINS TOP CONCERN

• Biden’s approval has ticked up slightly to 41% as voter sentiment on his administration’s handling of inflation and unemployment improve.
• The generic Congressional ballot remains tight, 51-49 in favor of the Democrats.
• Inflation remains the biggest concern for both Democrats and Republicans, followed by abortion rights for Democrats and immigration for Republicans.
• The Inflation Reduction Act faces skepticism: 53% of voters believe it will increase inflation.

DOJ RAID SPLITS THE COUNTRY WITHOUT HURTING TRUMP

• After the DOJ raided Mar-a-Lago, Trump is still the 2024 favorite: 6 in 10 GOP voters would pick Trump if the Republican presidential primary were held today. Trump would win the presidential election against Biden or Kamala Harris if it were held today.
• The raid is dividing Americans: Voters are evenly split on whether the Mar-a-Lago search was required by DOJ protocols or a politically motivated use of force, and whether the DOJ took more documents than the warrant allowed.
• Americans want the DOJ to use other methods: 60% think that if the DOJ wanted Trump’s documents, it should have asked a judge to order it through open court rather than use a search warrant to seize them. 58% think the appointment of a special master to assess what the DOJ took is reasonable.

BIDEN’s SPEECH ON MAGA REPUBLICANS IS UNPOPULAR AS AMERICANS WORRY ABOUT DIVIDING THE COUNTRY

• Biden’s September 1 speech in Philadelphia, in which he called Trump and MAGA Republicans a threat to the country, is viewed as divisive: 56% of voters, including 62% of Independents, opposed it.
• But Biden’s new rhetoric may motivate the base: 73% of Democrats think it is not a gross exaggeration to say that there are tens of millions of dangerous MAGA Republicans.
• Most Americans want Biden to be a unifying figure: 60% say a speech such as his September Philadelphia address divides and holds back the country, and 55% think Biden should be unifying the country instead.
• More Americans are concerned about the socialist left rather than MAGA Republicans gaining power, 55-45.

AMERICANS WANT TO INVESTIGATE THE HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY

• The Hunter Biden laptop story is not going away: 59% of Americans think the laptop story is genuine, not Russian disinformation. 63% of voters think the FBI helped suppress the story by telling tech companies it could be Russian disinformation.
• Americans are suspicious of the investigation process: 55% think the DOJ and FBI are slow-walking the Hunter Biden investigation to protect President Biden.
• 63% of voters think the DOJ should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Biden laptop.

BIDEN’S STUDENT LOAN RELIEF DOES NOT AFFECT MANY AMERICANS OR MAKE THEM WANT TO VOTE DEMOCRATIC

Americans are evenly split on Biden’s cancellation of up to $20,000 of debt for couples making up to $250,000.

• Only 17% of Americans say they will be personally helped by the program.
• Voters are skeptical of Biden’s method: 56% think it was wrong of Biden to act without Congress, and 52% think his executive order will ultimately be deemed unconstitutional.
• Debt relief is having little net effect on voters’ likelihood to vote Democratic: 35% say it will make them more likely to vote blue, but 37% say it will make them less likely.

The September Harvard-CAPS Harris Poll survey was conducted online within the United States from September 7-8, 2022, among 1,854 registered voters by The Harris Poll and HarrisX. ​ Follow the Harvard CAPS Harris Poll podcast at https://www.markpennpolls.com/ or on iHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast platforms.

About The Harris Poll

The Harris Poll is a global consulting and market research firm that strives to reveal the authentic values of modern society to inspire leaders to create a better tomorrow. It works with clients in three primary areas: building twenty-first-century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. One of the longest-running surveys in the U.S., The Harris Poll has tracked public opinion, motivations, and social sentiment since 1963, and is now part of Stagwell, the challenger holding company built to transform marketing.

About the Harvard Center for American Political Studies
The Center for American Political Studies (CAPS) is committed to and fosters the interdisciplinary study of U.S. politics.  Governed by a group of political scientists, sociologists, historians, and economists within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, CAPS drives discussion, research, public outreach, and pedagogy about all aspects of U.S. politics. CAPS encourages cutting-edge research using a variety of methodologies, including historical analysis, social surveys, and formal mathematical modeling, and it often cooperates with other Harvard centers to support research training and encourage cross-national research about the United States in comparative and global contexts. More information at https://caps.gov.harvard.edu/.

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Mark Penn is the CEO of Stagwell and a longtime pollster and strategic advisor. He’s a former senior executive at Microsoft and has advised politicians including Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.

Mark and Auren discuss Mark’s books Microtrends and Microtrends Squared, in which Mark identified minor demographic trends and predicted their outsized impact on society and the economy. Mark gets into the mechanics of good opinion polling and breaks down the major differences between political and consumer polling, and how internet polling is affecting the industry. They also discuss Stagwell and Mark’s digital-first strategy for disrupting the old-school advertising holding companies. 

World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.

You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Mark at @Mark_Penn.

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The Society of Presidential Pollsters Founder Will Discuss “American Government in the 21^st Century” Annual Poll Results

WASHINGTON D.C. – Sept. 7, 2022 – Stagwell (STGW) Chairman and CEO Mark Penn will be a featured speaker at The George Washington (GW) University’s “Reinvigorating Democracy” event next Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. The GW Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) Society of Presidential Pollsters will reveal the results of the latest “American Government in the 21st Century” annual survey, that takes the pulse of the American people on a wide range of issues related to how elected officials and public institutions are serving them.

As the society’s founder, Penn will discuss his analysis in conversation with GSPM Founding Dean Christopher Arterton, followed by a question-and-answer session. The panel is part of the GSPM’s “Reinvigorating Democracy” one-day event on the future of politics from practitioners on the Hill.

The panel will take place 12:30-1:40 p.m. at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Interested attendees can register here.

To hear more on the latest in political insights, please visit the “Harvard Harris Poll Debrief with Mark Penn and Bob Cusack” podcast, in which Penn and The Hill Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack discuss the latest Harvard CAPS / Harris Poll (Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies and Harris Insights and Analytics), released monthly.

About Stagwell

Stagwell is the challenger network built to transform marketing. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world’s most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our 13,000+ specialists in 34+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for their clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com. 

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