Jim Margolis

Basic facts
Organization:| GMMB
Role:| Partner
Location:| New York, N.Y.
Expertise:| Public Relations and Communications
Affiliation:| Democratic
Education:| Oberlin College (1978)
Website:| Official website
| Prior Experience

•Barack Obama 2008 and 2012 presidential
•Bill Clinton 1992 presidential
•Partner, GMMB
•Former Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.)
•Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
•Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
•Former Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
•Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)
•John Kerry 2004 presidential
•Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential

Jim Margolis is partner at GMMB, a media consulting firm, and was a senior media advisor for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. His advertisements are known for featuring ordinary people and for using voice and video clips of opponents' contradictory statements.[1]

Margolis and his firm GMMB were responsible for ad production, creative content, and media buying for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Margolis previously worked for Presidents Barack Obama (D) and Bill Clinton (D) as well as Democratic Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

## Contents

* 1 Career
* 1.1 Early career
* 1.2 John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004
* 1.3 Barack Obama presidential campaigns, 2008 and 2012
* 1.4 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016
* 2 Media
* 3 See also
* 4 External links
* 5 Footnotes

## Career[edit]

More on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign staff

Staff overview
• Clinton staff overview

* * *

Management and strategy
• Robby Mook, Campaign manager
• Joel Benenson, Chief strategist and pollster
• Amanda Renteria, Political director
• John Podesta, Campaign chairman
• Huma Abedin, Vice chair

* * *

Communications
• Jennifer Palmieri, Communications director
• Jim Margolis, Media advisor

* * *

Policy and outreach
• Jake Sullivan, Senior policy advisor
• Marlon Marshall, Director of state campaigns and political engagement
• Maya Harris, Senior policy advisor
• LaDavia Drane, Congressional liaison

* * *

### Early career[edit]

In 1984, Margolis worked on Walter Mondale's campaign, coordinating in Illinois, North Carolina, and New Jersey.[2] After Mondale's campaign, Margolis joined Greer and Associates, an advertising and political consulting firm in Washington, D.C.[3] Shortly thereafter, Margolis took a leave from consulting to become the chief of staff for then-Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).[4][5]

In the late 1980s, Margolis returned to Greer and Associates, became a partner and, eventually, the firm changed its name to GMMB (Greer, Margolis, Mitchell, Burns & Associates).[6] Since that time, the firm has grown to be one of the top media consulting groups in the country. Huffington Post has called them a "powerhouse media consulting shop," and a 2004 report by The Center for Public Integrity noted that GMMB was the top-grossing media company that year, earning $45.6 million.[2]

Margolis worked on former President Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign producing ads.[7] Also in 1992, Margolis returned to help Conrad in his re-election campaign as Conrad's media consultant.[8]

### John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004[edit]

In 2004, Margolis and his communications and consulting firm, GMMB, were working on John Kerry's presidential campaign during the primary election. In a 2004 interview with Democracy in Action, Margolis described the basic philosophy behind the ads he and GMMB produced:[9]

“  | We wanted to do a couple of different things. We certainly wanted to--we felt that one of our competitive advantages was Kerry speaking, that relative to the other candidates he was someone [who] when you looked at him you saw someone that was presidential, "presidentialness," that he communicated... I mean you could imagine him being president of the United States; you could imagine him going toe to toe with George Bush in a debate--that those elements relative to some of the other candidates really were a distinct advantage and we always believed using him in a way that I think was different than Dean or some of the other folks who clearly did a lot of work to camera or speaking but I don't think had that same level of gravitas that Kerry communicated, so that was an important element of it.[10] | ”

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As the campaign transitioned from the primaries to the general election, disputes arose over the issue of funding distribution. As a result of the dispute, Margolis withdrew from the campaign's general election staff.[11]

### Barack Obama presidential campaigns, 2008 and 2012[edit]

In 2008 and again in 2012, Margolis was a media consultant, creating ads for President Barack Obama.[12][7] The campaign was noted for its use of data mining and analytics to focus messaging, and Margolis told the alumni magazine of Oberlin College that, while these were powerful tools, they were limited: "My fear about what’s happening every day is that we are becoming more and more narrowly focused to our own sources of information. ... We go to FOX for our news if we’re conservative, MSNBC if we’re liberal. We go to certain websites that reinforce the same perspectives that we already own."[13]

In 2012, the campaign's advertising was praised for its flexibility. Business Insider noted, "In each swing state, the Obama campaign utilized a different media mix, varying the amount of money spent on broadcast television, cable television, radio, digital, mobile, and social media advertising, based on the media data about the state and the target voters they were attempting to reach."[14]

Although Margolis and GMMB were commended for the media produced during both of Obama's presidential campaigns, Margolis himself has given the most credit to Obama. He told The Economist Marketing Forum, "Often we talk about all the tactics. We talk about the grassroots, we talk about all these things that fuel a campaign. But the short answer is it was Barack Obama. He was our unique asset. When you think about what is the comparative advantage that you have when you're trying to figure out a campaign. What is it that makes us different than everyone else? For this campaign it was very simple. It was him."[15]

Between Obama's campaigns, Margolis, in 2010, worked on the campaigns of Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.), for whom Margolis had been a longtime advisor.[5]

### Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016[edit]

See also: Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016

In January 2015, it was announced that Jim Margolis would act as media advisor for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. The Washington Post noted that Margolis' firm, GMMB, is "one of the few with a production, creative and media-buying staff large enough to handle a campaign on the scale of the one Clinton is likely to build."[12]

According to U.S. News and World Report, the advertising strategy for Clinton's campaign was to focus on her past in a positive way to shift media attention from questions about her use of a private email server. The U.S. News article noted the campaign's use of photos that "show Clinton's long-time commitment to social causes, such as her work for school reform as the first lady of Arkansas and her long-time connections to the Children's Defense Fund."[16] In early 2016, The New York Times reported that Clinton's ads were focused on showing Clinton's consistency of message from her time as first lady to the 2016 campaign. The paper wrote, "Created by Jim Margolis, Mandy Grunwald, Droga5 and Dixon/Davis Media, the [January 2016] ad is a new approach to an old message. ... Yet with its soft, swelling music and the consistent charge in Mrs. Clinton’s changing voice, this commercial carries an emotional, and somewhat nostalgic, force not seen in her ads until now."[17]

## Media[edit]

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## See also[edit]

* Barack Obama
* Bill Clinton
* Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016

## External links[edit]

* GMMB
* Hillary for America

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ The New York Times, "The Methods of Margolis," May 8, 2012
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Center for Public Integrity, "Professional advice," March 25, 2004
3. ↑ New York Times, "The Mondale Team Today," February 9, 1985
4. ↑ U.S. Government Printing Office, "Tributes to Kent Conrad, U.S. Senator from North Dakota," accessed June 22, 2015
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 New York Times, "Aggressive Ads for Obama, at the Ready," May 8, 2012
6. ↑ New York Times, "Fleishman-Hillard Buys Greer, Margolis," December 26, 2000
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 MSNBC, "Emerging Clinton campaign draws heavily from Obama alumni," January 14, 2015
8. ↑ Washington Post, "The Senator who kept his word," April 10, 1992
9. ↑ Democracy in Action, "Interview with Jim Margolis, GMMB," May 21, 2004
10. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
11. ↑ New York Times, "Two Central Figures on the Kerry Media Team Go Toe to Toe," April 9, 2004
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Washington Post, "Hillary Clinton recruits chief strategist, media adviser for 2016 effort," January 13, 2015
13. ↑ Oberlin Alumni Magazine, "Jim Margolis knows that you did last summer.," Summer 2013
14. ↑ Business Insider, "Obama's Media Planner Tells Us The 5 Most Important Ad Tactics From The Presidential Campaign," November 12, 2012
15. ↑ Fora.tv, "GMMB's Jim Margolis: Obama's Successful Media Campaign," accessed May 11, 2016
16. ↑ U.S. News and World Report, "Warning Signs," September 18, 2015
17. ↑ The New York Times, "From Hillary Clinton, a Single Message Told Across the Decades," January 30, 2016

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2016 Presidential Candidate Key Staffers and Advisors

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* * *

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