Penn, Schoen & Berland

Penn, Schoen Berland (PSB) is a market research, political polling and strategic consulting firm with American offices in New York, Washington, Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Austin, and San Francisco, and international offices in London, Hong Kong, Beijing, Dubai, and Delhi. The firm was founded in 1975 and purchased by the British-based WPP Group in 2001. Partners in the firm include Mark Penn, Doug Schoen and Michael Berland, for whom the firm is named.

Introduction

PSB offers services to businesses, non-profits and political campaigns. It is a strategic research and communications provider to more than 30 of the Fortune 100 companies, and includes an entertainment practice which offers motion picture research to major studios, video game research to top developers, and cover testing to leading magazine publishers.

According to Washington Business Forward, PSB's "reputation is largely as a Democratic political polling firm, closely associated with both U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration as well as the Senatorial and Presidential campaign of his wife Hillary. But the firm also worked for Republican Michael Bloomberg in his mayoral bid in New York City, generating huge fees from the multi-millionaire self-financed candidate that caught some press attention during the campaign.

The company also has non-political corporate clients. Major corporate clients over the years have included AT&T, Coca-Cola, American Express, BP, Novartis and Microsoft.[5][6]

1996 Presidential Election

In 1995, then-President Bill Clinton hired the firm and replaced his old team to remake his message and his presidency. Starting with secret meetings in the White House, the firm polled to help defeat the Republican government shutdown. The firm helped devise "Building a Bridge to the 21st Century" and developed the concept of Soccer Moms that became a permanent fixture in politics and lifestyle marketing. The firm was dubbed the "Masters of Message" in lengthy recounts of the election that detailed its new polling techniques of message and mall testing. [7]

1996-2000 White House Polling

After the election, the firm was retained to poll for the White House and on Wednesday nights held regular meetings with the President and the White House staff to review polls and strategy. The polling played a critical part in Bill Clinton's thinking and decision making, and it directly led to the policy of putting Social Security First. During these years the firm worked for both Bill Clinton and Bill Gates [8]

The 2001 New York City Mayoral Race

In an unconventional move, PSB opted to work for the campaign of Democrat-turned-Republican billionaire Michael Bloomberg, in his bid to become New York's 108th Mayor, following Rudy Giuliani. Although initially criticized in Democratic political circles for chasing Bloomberg's multi-million dollar fees, PSB played an important role in shaping the Bloomberg 2001 campaign and, in doing so, created what political consultants today consider to be the first "modern" campaign to utilize new data-mining techniques and state-of-the-art technologies in micro-slicing the diverse New York City demographic, coupled with a massive peer-to-peer volunteer network.

It was a unique partnership between the polling firm and the volunteer arm of the campaign - one not emulated with any similar scale until the election of Barack Obama seven years later. Doug Schoen, co-founder of PSB, who credits [Campaign architect] Kevin Sheekey “as responsible for Bloomberg’s victory.” realized that Bloomberg was a long shot, and thus he encouraged PSB to leverage the considerable human resources of Bloomberg's financial and media empire. Sheekey enlisted Bloomberg campaign operative Arick Wierson to coordinate what would later emerge as the largests and most sophisticated volunteer call center and push-polling operation in the nation, using Bloomberg, LP and Wall St. sophisticated brokers and financial sales teams to work the phones. With surveys crafted by PSB, and detailed call lists, Wierson's "army" of over 15,000 volunteer callers flooded New York households with nightly peer-to-peer calls.

The events of 9/11, changed the dynamic of the campaign, and PSB conducted in depth polling using sample-sizes well above the norm to get micro-insights in best how to shape the Bloomberg's post-September 11th message.

2004 Venezuelan recall election

Further information: Venezuelan recall referendum of 2004

PSB received negative attention for polling it did during the Venezuelan recall referendum of 2004 of President Hugo Chávez. The referendum results were controversial[9]. A Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates (PSB) exit poll predicted that Chávez would lose by 20%, but the election results showed him to have won by 20%. Schoen commented, "I think it was a massive fraud". US News and World Report offered an analysis of the polls, indicating "very good reason to believe that the (Penn Schoen) exit poll had the result right, and that Chávez's election officials — and [Former US President Jimmy Carter] and the American media — got it wrong".

PSB used volunteers from Súmate, an anti-Chávez NGO which was the primary organizer of the recall referendum, and involved around 200 polling places out of 8500. With over 20,000 responses the exit poll produced a much larger amount of data than most opinion polls (typically around 1000 responses), leading to an extremely low sampling error. However, one academic noted that "Few independent observers put much credence in the Sumate results, which were very likely skewed by overrepresentation of voters in areas where volunteers were willing to conduct their interviews."

Serbian elections in 2000

PSB was a key adviser to the democratic opposition to Serbian president Milosevic in the run-up to Serbian presidential elections in 2000. [10]

British general election in 2005

In late January 2005, The Daily Telegraph revealed that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had recruited the services of PSB's Mark Penn in the run-up to the general election in the UK, widely expected to take place in May of that year [11]. The election took place and Tony Blair won unprecedented third term for a Labour PM.

Italian general election, 2006

On January 2006, a survey was commissioned to PSB by House of Freedoms' leader Silvio Berlusconi, who claimed the Italian surveys to be fixed in favour of the centre-left opposition. The survey, then announced on late February, showed Berlusconi statistically tied with leader Romano Prodi, and so did their March 16 survey, whereas other Italian surveys showed at least a 4% lead in favour of the centre-left. Prodi narrowly defeated Berlusconi in the Italian general election, held on April 9 and April 10, with the final result 49.8% Union vs 49.7%, making the PSB polls the most accurate in the election.

Awards

The firm reports winning these major awards:

2010 Politics Magazine's Reed Award for the UnfairCreditCardFees.com campaign.

2008 Pollie Award; Silver: Television Advertising – Candidate, Democratic Presidential Primary (Hillary Clinton, “3 AM” ad) Jack Felton Golden Ruler Award; For PSB’s work on market research leading to “Shell Oil’s National Dialogue on Energy Security” Telly Award; For PSBcreative’s work on Dominion’s “Every Day” campaign

2007 Pollie Award; Gold: Phone Calls – GOTV (Hillary Clinton, Endorsements) Pollie Award; Bronze: Internet – Website Candidate, US Senate (Long Islanders for Hillary website) Pollie Award; Bronze: Phone calls, Candidate US Senate (Hillary Clinton, Microtargeting Long Island)

2005 Pollie Award; Bronze: Best Persuasion Online Advertisement – Organization (New Democrat Network, “Promise Preview”)

2004 ARF David Ogilvy Award; For work on Microsoft market research resulting in the “Realizing Potential” campaign

2003 Pollie Award; Bronze: Candidate, Governor (Jim Blanchard, “Game”)

2000 Pollie Award; Special Award – Pollster of the Year for work for Hillary Clinton

1996 Pollie Award; Special Award – Pollster of the Year for work for President Clinton

[12]

See also

• Bill Clinton
• International Crisis Group
• United Kingdom general election, 2005

External links

• Sourcewatch article
• An Open Letter to Rob Allyn, Doug Schoen and Marcela Berland from the Publisher of Narco News, Narco News Website, Summer, 2000
• Press Release WPP Group PLC WPP acquires leading US strategic research and polling consultancy, Penn, Schoen and Berland, November 16, 2001
• Andrew Selsky, "U.S. Poll Firm in Hot Water in Venezuela," Associated Press, August 19, 2004.
• Expenditures to individuals and organizations affiliated with Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates Inc. from New Democrat Network - Non-Federal, The Center for Public Integrity
• Mark J. Penn, "The Democratic Party and the 2004 Election," Poll for the Democratic Leadership Council, July 28, 2003.
• Mark J. Penn & Peter Brodnitz, "Winning the Gun Vote," Poll for Americans for Gun Safety, October 16, 2003.
• Jonathan P. Hicks, "Mayor Stakes $2 Million of His Own to Fight Party Primaries," New York Times, October 25, 2003.
• Presidential ImagePower Study Compares Bush and Kerry to Well-Known Brands. August 30, 2004, PSB and Landor news release
• Eamon Javers and Rachel L. Dodes, "DEAL OF THE YEAR: Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates to WPP, undisclosed value," Washington Business Forward, 2001.
• John Lancaster, "U.S. Funds Help Milosevic's Foes in Election Fight," Washington Post, September 19, 2000.
• Jose de Cordoba and David Luhnow, "Venezuelans Rush To Vote on Chavez," Wall Street Journal, 16 August 2004, page A11.
• Patrick Hennessy and Philip Sherwell, "Blair recruits Clinton poll mastermind in drive to capture more Tory voters", The Daily Telegraph, January 23, 2005.
• Jonathan Mowat, "The Coup Plotters: The Arlington Institute", Online Journal, March 17, 2005.
• Richard Stengel and Eric Pooley, "The Masters of the Message," Time Magazine, November 18, 1996.
• John Harris,"Policy and Politics by the Numbers",The Washington Post, December 31, 2000.