A Quick Plan to Defeat the Vacancy Tax

Six weeks. That’s all we had from first polling numbers to Election Day — and only 12 days from polling to the start of voting. In the fight to stop Adelanto’s costly Vacancy Tax, the clock was our biggest enemy. Here’s how our planning phase turned impossible timelines into a decisive win.

At HexaCom Group, we take a backseat to no other firm when it comes to one fundamental truth about political and public affairs campaigns: strategy is more important than tactics. Defining what the campaign is about and establishing the core narrative arc has a much greater impact on the final result than whether any single campaign element is technically brilliant.

But in a HexaCom campaign, as we’ve discussed before, there’s a critical bridge between strategy and execution — the Planning Phase. This is where we put together the logistical, administrative, and management infrastructure that turns a winning strategy into reality.

In our campaign to defeat the Vacancy Tax in Adelanto in 2024 (No on Measure U), the Planning Phase was especially challenging. Hired just before Christmas 2023 for a March 5, 2024 election, we had to conduct our survey after the holidays. That meant we had to get the survey data, analyze it, build our strategy, and put together the plan at an accelerated pace.

From polling to Election Day, we had less than 6 weeks. From polling to the start of voting, just 12 days. We knew from our survey the path to victory — but we had to turn that strategy into a plan in record time.

The plan had six core elements: Timeline, Budget, Asset Inventory, Team, Management/Decision-Making Process, and Reporting Process. Here’s how each played out.

Timeline: From Strategy to Action in 48 Hours

In many campaigns, the timeline is built backward from Election Day, considering early voting, budget pacing, and media flights. Not here. Our marching orders were simple: GET GOING.

From the moment we settled on strategy, until our first campaign mailer was out of design and into production, was just two days.

We could move this quickly because over the holidays, we had pre-built many elements of the plan — anticipating the need for speed once research came in.

Key lesson: Overlap strategy and planning where possible. Pre-building timelines, vendor commitments, and creative templates allows you to launch almost instantly.

Budget: Securing the Right Resources Fast

Working closely with our main client, the High Desert Association of REALTORS® (HDAOR), we established a clear budget early, leveraging state and national REALTOR® resources and partner associations from around the state.

Knowing we’d need immediate execution, we made early commitments to trusted partners for design, mail, field, digital creative, and ad delivery — locking in capacity before timelines squeezed.

Key lesson: Early budget clarity lets you commit resources and be able to hit the ground running even in the tightest of timelines and before your competition realizes you’ve even started.

Asset Inventory: Shooting Before We Needed It

We knew we’d need high-quality visuals for mail, digital ads, and video. So, before the plan was even finalized, we sent our production crew to Adelanto to shoot b-roll and stock footage, giving them wide latitude to capture anything that might be useful.

The result? A deep content library that made later creative pop — and eliminated delays waiting for production.

Key lesson: Build your creative library before you need it. In a fast campaign, waiting for assets can kill momentum.

The Team: Trusted Partners on Speed Dial

By using long-time and trusted partners, we skipped the slow start that comes with vetting new vendors. Everyone knew the expectations and could hit the ground running.

Key lesson: In a compressed timeline, familiarity beats novelty. Relationships built over years can save you days you don’t have.

Management & Decision-Making: Clear Authority, No Bottlenecks

In candidate campaigns, the candidate is usually the final decision-maker. In ballot measures, that’s not always clear — especially when multiple stakeholders are involved.

To avoid paralysis-by-committee, we agreed that HDAOR’s chief executive would have final authority. We set up weekly standing calls for major items and used quick email approvals for ads and spending.

It worked like clockwork — ensuring all stakeholders had a voice but one person had the final say.

Key lesson: Establish a clear decision-making chain early. Input is good; bottlenecks are fatal.

Lessons for Any Campaign

Whether you have six weeks, six months, or more, the principles from this race apply anywhere:

• Build your team and creative assets before the plan is finalized to the extent possible.

• Pre-secure vendor relationships and budget commitments, again to the extent possible.

• Overlap planning with strategy to compress timelines, while sacrificing neither.

• Establish clear authority for decision-making.

• Use trusted partners to accelerate execution.

In Adelanto, these practices allowed us to turn a nearly impossible timeline into a decisive win. That’s the power of a disciplined, structured Planning Phase — even when the clock is against you.