In the Summer of 2022, Progressive Source participated in an effort to stop a farm destroying multi-billion dollar development project in the City of Davis, California. Proponents of the development sought to change Davis’s general plan to allow a massive construction project. Because changes to the general plan require voter approval, this potential general plan amendment was named Measure H and put on the ballot for the June 2022 city election. If Measure H was approved, the project would have caused major traffic problems in the already congested college town, would have caused retail space in the city core to go vacant, and would have been terrible for the environment, turning untouched farmland into a multi-hundred thousand square feet of shopping centers, strip malls, and apartments.
Progressive Source was hired by the Davis Community Vision Alliance and the No on Measure H – No on Davis Innovation and Sustainability Campus (No on DISC), a community group opposing the development. Progressive Source produced a video and managed a video marketing campaign to alert voters to the dangers of the project. Our short video used persuasive scripting, intelligent graphics, and a Davis-targeted advertising campaign. Nearly twenty thousand people watched the video in the small city-at a cost of only $600.
The project’s backers spent $600,000 on the campaign, greenwashing the development with sophisticated marketing and the use of campaign mailers. The opposition mailers and campaign had a budget of less than one tenth of that.
A total of 11,000 people voted in the election, and Measure H was voted down by a large margin of 3,000 votes. The final tally was 63.5% against and 36.5% in favor of the development.
Progressive Source also produced a campaign video for Julliette Beck, an environmentally minded candidate for Yolo County Supervisor, who also opposed the development and general plan change. While Beck did not win, her video was viewed by nearly 40,000 people, and as a previously unknown candidate, she still managed to secure 35% of the vote. While Beck was not able to secure a supervisor seat, because of Progressive Source and the rest of the community’s efforts, Measure H was voted down, preventing the destructive project from going forward.