Mayor Nutter's campaign ads win national award

It wasn't just at the ballot box that Mayor Nutter waged a winning campaign.

The nation's top political consultants have decided his television ads were the best produced last year of any political race in the country.

"Wow! Really?" Nutter said when told yesterday. "How stunning."

The Rittenhouse Square media firm that created the ads, the Campaign Group, came in first among 1,300 entries for best overall television campaign in an annual contest judged last weekend by the American Association of Political Consultants.

For its work, the firm received what is known in the industry as a "Pollie" award, which now joins half-a-dozen other Pollies the Campaign Group has won over the years, including one for Gov. Rendell's 2002 gubernatorial bid. The association comprises 1,100 campaign managers, pollsters, fund-raisers and media consultants.

This year's award, though, is bigger than the rest.

"When Michael Nutter announced that he was running for mayor, it wasn't clear that he could win, but it was clear that he would make the best mayor for our city," said Neil Oxman, a founder and president of the Campaign Group.

The firm submitted not just the TV ads for consideration, but poll data that went with it, and an explanation of "why you did the things you did, and what effect they had," Oxman said.

The Pollie was named "How Michael Nutter Moved From Last to First."

Though he was the first official candidate to announce his run for mayor, Nutter remained in fourth or fifth place throughout most of the five-way Democratic primary in May.

He also didn't go on the air until March 25. "Everyone thought we were crazy in saving all our money," Oxman said.

But once Nutter's ads hit, his poll numbers surged - from 5 percent to 20 percent, and, at the end of the race, he captured a victorious 37 percent of the vote.

The first two ads that ran positioned Nutter as the anti-John Street candidate, even though the incumbent mayor was not in the race.

Soon after came one of the most memorable ads of the primary season. Featuring Nutter's daughter, Olivia, then 12, it helped turn around Nutter's fortunes by humanizing him and making him more likable, Oxman said.

In all, the firm produced 10 ads for Nutter's primary race and one for the general election.

Founded in 1980, the Campaign Group's clients have included several U.S. senators and representatives. The firm has also been hired by former Mayors Bill Green, Wilson Goode and Rendell, as well as Republican Sam Katz, who in 1999 waged the closest mayoral race in recent memory before losing to Street.