Bully Pulpit Interactive is a communications consultancy that has served a number of left-of-center nonprofits and political candidates. Based in Washington, the company has offices in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

It was founded by Andrew Bleeker, a former Obama campaign staffer. The company led the digital strategy for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, and has worked for major companies such as Walmart and McDonald’s.

Background

Andrew Bleeker, lead digital marketing strategist on Barack Obama’s successful 2008 Presidential campaign, founded Bully Pulpit Interactive in 2009. The firm is a Democratic public relations and marketing firm based in Washington with offices in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

Bully Pulpit Interactive took over another public relations firm started by alumni of the Obama administration. Ben LaBolt, who worked on President Obama’s communications team, and former Obama White House press secretary Robert Gibbs had founded Incite Agency in 2013; in 2016, Bully Pulpit bought Incite. LaBolt became a partner with Bully Pulpit; Gibbs had already left the company. ¹

Clients

Corporate Clients

Bully Pulpit works for major corporations, reportedly including Walmart, McDonald’s, PepsiCo, EY, Goldman Sachs, Facebook, Airbnb and Sonos. ²

Advocacy Clients

Bully Pulpit works for a number of left-of-center nonprofit clients, including the American Civil Liberties Union, EMILY’s List, the Human Rights Campaign, Priorities USA, NextGen America and Everytown for Gun Safety. It has also worked for the center-left think tank the Brookings Institution. It also has worked for industry groups such as the Society for Human Resource Management and the Nuclear Energy Institute. ³

Political Campaigns

Bully Pulpit Interactive handled the digital strategy for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and its joint fundraising operation with the Democratic National Committee, as well as the Hillary Victory Fund. It earned more than $10 million from the Clinton campaign entities. ⁴

2020 Campaign

The company hired former Obama pollster Danny Franklin, also a former journalist and speechwriter, in 2018 to work in its New York office. Franklin came to the company from Beneson Strategy Group. ⁵ Franklin, who became the firm’s first New York partner, had worked with Bully Pulpit founder Andrew Bleeker on both of President Obama’s successful presidential campaigns, as wells as the Clinton campaign in 2016. ⁶

The company rolled out new features for its digital ad spending tracker going into the 2020 election season. The tracker relies on digital ad spending data for Google and Facebook. The data raised concerns among Democrats about spending. Bleeker said digital “is the single biggest expense right now on the Democratic campaigns for the first time ever,” but was not yet at the same level as President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. Bleeker also said the Trump campaign has “unprecedented coordination between the paid media campaign and the earned media campaign.” ⁷

1. Kanski, Alison. “Bully Pulpit Interactive Acquires Incite Agency.” PR Week. September 15, 2016. Accessed June 8, 2019.
2. Bully Pulpit Interactive. Glass Door. Accessed June 8, 2019. https://www.glassdoor.com/Overview/Working-at-Bully-Pulpit-Interactive-EI_IE848486.11,35.htm
3. About. Bully Pulpit Interactive. Accessed June 8, 2019. https://bpimedia.com/about
4. Kaye, Kate. “Clinton’s Digital Shop Acquires Agency Run by Obama Heavyweights.” Ad Age. September 15, 2016. Accessed June 8, 2019. https://adage.com/article/campaign-trail/clinton-s-digital-shop-buys-agency-run-obama-heavyweights/305869
5. Press Release. “Bully Pulpit Interactive Continues to Build Modern, Integrated Agency; Adds Message Strategy Expert Danny Franklin.” July 19, 2018. Accessed June 8, 2019. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bully-pulpit-interactive-continues-to-build-modern-integrated-agency-adds-message-strategy-expert-danny-franklin-300683762.html
6. Czarnecki, Sean. “Bully Pulpit Interactive Hires Obama Pollster Danny Franklin.” PR Week. July 18, 2018. Accessed June 8, 2019. https://www.prweek.com/article/1488239/bully-pulpit-interactive-hires-obama-pollster-danny-franklin
7. Miller, Sean J. “Why Democratic Strategists Are Still Sounding the Alarm on Digital Spending.” Campaigns & Elections. May 24, 2019. Accessed June 8 2019. https://www.campaignsandelections.com/campaign-insider/why-democratic-strategists-are-still-sounding-the-alarm-on-digital-spending