Strategy Group for Media Expands Into Conglomerate

Strategy Group for Media (SGM) a conservative, on-the rise GOP consulting firm is expanding its presence.

The Ohio-based outfit gained prominence with its work for freshman Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who was elected in 2010, and for losing Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin in November. Other SGM clients include Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Ohio Gov. John Kasich

SGM already had a strong presence in TV advertising, but now it’s purchasing John Hancock & Associates, a Missouri-based research company, and Front Porch Strategies, a voter contact firm, SGM officials told Politico.

The new companies will take on new names as part of SGM: the Strategy Group for Research and the Strategy Group for Phones. They will be joined by the Strategy Group for New Media.

SGM can now offer one-stop shopping. “With the complement of phones, new media and research, it places us on the cutting edge of communications,” Rex Elsass, SGM’s founder and CEO told Politico. “I think we’ll continue to grow when we have the opportunity to lay out the businesses that we’re in the process of building and acquiring.”

Efforts of firms like SGM are crucial to winning elections. For example, the Obama campaign’s superior data effort was seen as an important factor in the president’s re-election last year.

“To the greatest of our knowledge, the Romney campaign did not use this type of advanced analytics,” Eric Siegel, a former computer science professor at Columbia University, told Newsmax TV.