Meet BSD: Questions with Dan Thain

Dan Thain came to Blue State Digital in December 2008 from the Labour Party, where he served as the e-Campaigns Manager. Dan worked with some of the most senior figures in the British government, regularly writing emails and direct mail copy for Gordon Brown and Tony Blair while also playing a central role in numerous local and national campaigns. We interviewed Dan as part of our regular feature, Meet BSD.

1. What drew you to online campaigning, and subsequently to Blue State Digital?

I've always been fascinated by the Internet and politics, so it didn't take long to add the two areas of interest together. Digital technology fundamentally changes the economics of campaigning. I’ve been aware from pretty early on that new media had the potential to redefine the relationship between parties and politicians and their supporters — to the benefit of both the parties and our democracy as a whole.

I joined BSD because I wanted to work with the most talented people in the industry and work with the most interesting clients out there. While it was very, very difficult to leave the Labour Party, I think it was the right decision. Working at BSD has really changed how I think campaigns should be run, and I've learned a huge amount in a relatively short time.

2. You've done a lot of work with Hope Not Hate while at BSD. Their email list grew from something small to one of the biggest in the UK. How did that happen?

Hope Not Hate has been an important client for us, because it has really shown that the political and organisational model espoused by BSD works just as well in the UK as it does in the US. It's not about political systems — it's about connecting with your audience in an emotionally intelligent and engaging way and then giving them real and tangible things to do. It's also about having clear metrics for success — I'm constantly perplexed by campaigns that chase process stories about Twitter and the like. The Hope Not Hate campaign never does anything that doesn't help build their email list, secure donations, make phone calls to voters, or turn out activists to campaign door-to-door — which is why the campaign has delivered.

When we started with Hope Not Hate, we had just 6,000 active constituents — so I knew that we'd have to focus on really aggressive email collection to put us in a place where we could make a difference. And it worked: The list is about to break 140,000, which is just phenomenal.

Hope Not Hate has been a fantastic client to work with. It's also become a real team effort across the company, which is one of my favourite things about working at BSD: We all chip in on projects and we have a really deep talent roster, so we can really deliver fantastic campaigns, both technically and creatively.

3. Hope Not Hate's “Not in My Name” video went viral in the UK. What was so compelling about it?

The “Not in My Name” video was borne from the election of two MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) in June. A strict deadline like an election is a handy thing, planning-wise, and we built out win/lose strategies that we could deploy within minutes of the result being declared. Despite breaking every rule about email sending times, the campaign sent a full-list email launching “Not in My Name” at 2:12am, just after the BNP's win was announced. This allowed us to become a funnel for people’s anger.

I think the whole process of making a “Not in My Name” sign, taking a photo of it, and then uploading it to the Hope Not Hate site was a cathartic exercise for many people, and thousands upon thousands participated. It was also a really good example of the difference BSD can bring to a campaign: We had more than 75 versions of the petition pages set up so we could optimise messages, the call to action, and the page layout. We nailed the political strategy and then had our fantastic video team produce a beautiful and compelling video. In total, more than 90,000 people signed the petition, and they uploaded more than 7,000 photos. So it really worked.

 

4. How do you get a band like Snow Patrol to agree to lend its music to a video like “Not in My Name”?

Snow Patrol came on board through Sam Jeffers in BSD’s London office. Before coming to BSD, Sam played in a band called Fridge and through his friends was able to reach out to bands who could help with the video. Snow Patrol is really active in the anti-fascist movement and was delighted to become part of this moment.

5. What has surprised you the most about working with HNH?

I judge the success of this sort of programme by the number of people who actually read our emails, turn off their computers, and go and do the real work which will actually stop the BNP: face-to-face contact in the communities that the BNP target. Before we started our programme, a Hope Not Hate event typically had five or six volunteers. We hoped that we could lift this to about twenty. Sixty-seven people attended the first event, and the vast majority had absolutely no experience with political campaigns — they were entirely "new." This happened at hundreds and hundreds of events across the country and has really breathed new life into community-based campaigning. It's something we're going to be building on while we gear up for the general election.

6. Tell us a little bit about BSD’s entrance into international work.

Blue State was working with European clients well before I came aboard. It started in 2007 with BSD supporting John Cruddas's campaign to be Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. We quickly grew from that point. We launched the UK office a year ago and have rapidly expanded since then. From our London office we have worked in the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland. We're up to 10 staffers now, which is great but a little scary, because on my first day a year ago it was just me and Matthew McGregor!

7. Are there noticeable differences between British and American online habits?

There are obviously some cultural barriers and language barriers, but I often think that these can be often overstated. At BSD we run campaigns that connect on a human level — so this approach really translates across culture. And we try to be a unified company. We do lead our UK projects with London staff, but we also pull in experts from across the organisation, because making sure that we apply the right experience for each client is what makes our efforts successful.

One difference is that end-of-year donations aren't a tradition over here in the same way as in the US, so the London office looked on with great admiration at the end-of-year donation numbers American clients were pulling in. We're learning some great lessons from our US clients and are beginning to see some early success in raising funds directly for UK organisations.

8. What was the impetus behind your ill-fated bicycle trip to Portugal?

I like challenges, so I set out from Norfolk to ride my bike all the way to Portugal. The original plan was to take it relatively slowly — to take my time and camp all the way through the UK, France, Spain, and then Portugal.

After one night I remembered that I wasn't really a fan of camping. So I donated my equipment to Oxfam and decided to stay in hotels the rest of the way. I had calculated that I could afford it if I cycled an average of 100 miles each day, which I'd been able to do in training.

However, it turns out that cycling in the hills of Southern France in the dead of summer is a little tougher than cycling in the winter in the flats of Norfolk. And me being a bit fat didn't help either. After what felt like an eternity of pushing myself through physical hell and getting to the point that I couldn't eat or drink any longer, I called it quits. I ended up about 75 miles from Spain. But I'm determined to finish that trip before I turn 30.

9. What are three things Americans should learn about working with Brits in a business setting?

I think the main difference is that new media isn't ingrained into many organisations in the same way as it is in the US. We've had the pleasure to work with a whole host of organisations who "get it," but I'm constantly amazed at the number of large-scale organisations who make some really basic, avoidable, and costly mistakes.

While we've got past the stage where the new media team is just the guys fixing the printers, I don't think there's been a wholesale adoption of new media as a central tenet of a campaign yet. I think our work in the UK is quickly changing that. We've pulled out some big wins for clients, and this has let us really shine a light on what is possible from our political and organisational approach.

At BSD we're always saying, "It's not about the technology." But a lot of online work in the UK is still based around content management rather than relationship management. Having a pretty CMS isn't going to deliver real results for clients. Even the best players in the UK market are offering a product which is going to remain pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of what new media can offer.

10. You've written for a lot of high-profile Labour Party members. How do you learn to write in someone else's voice?

It's always fun to write as someone else, especially when it's for someone you respect. I think a lot of the tone comes from the cadence and patterns that they use in their speeches. And then it helps to have thick skin if people push back on what you've written!

11. Talk about your time as a professional gamer, and your love affair with the X-Box.

While I was studying for my B.A., my local pub was running heats for a videogaming competition with a £10K prize. I've always been super competitive — I'm a person of extremes — so I went away and practiced and practiced for about 18 hours a day in the week leading up to the competition. And I won. I’ve played in a few other competitions as well. The least I ever won was £4K. Which was a nice way to earn cash through Uni.

12. What is your favorite video game of all time?

Civilisation.

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