How we branded Cara Spencer's campaign for mayor of St. Louis

Our Political Project

Congratulations to the new mayor of St. Louis, Cara Spencer. As citizens, we're excited about her vision. As an agency—we must admit—we were surprised that Cara invited us to promote her campaign. Political advertising isn’t our main gig. But she assured us that our lack of political experience was part of our appeal. After we’d gotten over the initial shock, we rallied behind our very own alderwoman. Here's a peek into our approach.

Positioning Through Messaging

Many voters feel that St. Louis politicians are just in it for themselves. So we turned that feeling on its head with the slogan, “Mayor for St. Louis.” This directional language that identifies the office she is seeking and sets Cara Spencer apart, implying she is running for the good of St. Louis itself, not her own ambition.

We also wanted an additional message that could crystallize voters’ discontent into optimism. “St. Louis can do better” has multiple meanings to different people, depending on the context a voter brings: discontent with the current state of the city; faith in Cara Spencer; the importance of action over talking; and the belief that St. Louis just needs a little extra push to make it great.

“This campaign was built on the simple idea that St. Louis can do better” —Cara Spencer, victory speech April 8, 2025 (St. Louis Business Journal)

Fitting the message to the medium

In a local political campaign, one piece of media rules: the humble yard sign. It’s a mini-billboard (some of them are actually pretty huge) that broadcasts neighbors' support, generates momentum and is incredibly targeted—after all, it only speaks to people in the voting area. With several iterations, with and without slogans, in multiple sizes, with impactful type and easily-recognizable design choices, we thoroughly explored yard signs with Cara.

Early sign exploration

Leaning into the candidate

So often, as marketers, we’re encouraged to run away from functional superiority and towards emotional benefits. But, why? If you have a better product, it makes sense to tell people—and the same is true with a candidate for political office.

Perhaps this is obvious to everyone who knows her, but Cara Spencer isn’t your typical politician. She’s accessible, recognizable and known for her no-nonsense, all-action style. So we leaned into that, with fun stickers, coasters and posters featuring her instantly-recognizable hair style, silhouetted with the face removed. Injecting just a bit of levity into the campaign gave her biggest cheerleaders something to enjoy. We’ve seen these in coffee shops, on cars and even in delis.

Knowing our place

Ultimately, great advertising can’t save a bad candidate. Fortunately, Cara Spencer did the work, built the relationships and made a compelling pitch to voters. We wish her luck in transforming the city—after all, a successful, flourishing St. Louis is in all our interests.