Garret Brubaker sits down with composer Todd Hahn, the man behind the music of political ads on both sides of every presidential election since 1996. A self-described struggling artist who failed government in high school, Todd stumbled into campaign work through a Washington post-production facility, where a chance partnership with media consultant Mark Putnam convinced him that original scoring could do what needle-drop records never could: deliver the message, dig under the skin, and move a voter to act. He explains why his lack of political knowledge became a virtue, and why music's only real job is to attach itself to the story.

The conversation runs from craft to history. Todd breaks down how he scores a 30-second spot, starting with rhythm on a fast negative ad, listening for the money line, and resisting the urge to clobber the viewer when less is more. He talks about the technology that built his niche, from external sampler racks to everything living "in the box," and how that same accessibility of streaming music eventually changed who picks the track. Along the way he reflects on the esprit de corps of the old edit-house era, when Republican and Democratic consultants shared a lunchroom and a friendly competition.

Todd also shares the stories he is proudest of and the one he can't stop laughing about: the historic Obama half-hour buy that preempted the World Series, the night Steven Spielberg gave musical notes in the edit suite and Mark Putnam respectfully overruled him, and the time a porno-groove score for an opponent's hairstyling footage helped run a candidate out of the race the next day. His closing message to the next generation of political creatives is simple: keep the art in the craft, and never forget that music is an invisible player.

Key Takeaways

● Todd Hahn has scored ads for both sides of every presidential election since 1996, and credits his deliberate independence, personally and professionally, to a belief in the fairness at the heart of democracy.

● His lack of political background was an asset, not a liability. With no agenda beyond doing good work, he could write music that simply served the message.

● Music's only job is to attach itself to something and deliver the message. A dry spot stays informational until the score makes it explode emotionally.

● His process often starts with rhythm, not melody, on fast or negative ads, then builds architecture around the dialogue's "money line" before adding texture, because less is usually more.

● Affordable virtual instruments built his niche by letting him turn around a finished score in under an hour, but easy access to streaming music later shifted song selection back to editors who now cut to music.

● The Obama half-hour ad was a career high-water mark, preempting the World Series across nearly every network, and featured Steven Spielberg offering notes that Mark Putnam politely declined.

Timestamps

00:00 The porn-music ad that ran a candidate out of the race

02:55 A roundabout path from struggling composer to Washington, D.C.

08:42 Meeting Mark Putnam and replacing needle-drop with original scores

15:34 How political scoring has changed over four decades

21:56 Staying independent and working both sides of the aisle

28:50 The historic Obama buy and Spielberg's notes in the edit suite

35:45 Inside the process: rhythm, the money line, and 18 ads a day

46:55 Finding where music pokes through wall-to-wall narration

52:02 Why original music still matters, and the invisible players

Connect

● Todd Hahn: https://www.toddmhahn.com/home

● Creative Caucus on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecreativecaucus

● Studio Brubaker: https://www.studiobrubaker.com

Hashtags

#CreativeCaucusPodcast #PoliticalAdvertising #PoliticalCreatives #CampaignStrategy #PoliticalMarketing #CreativeStrategy #PoliticalScoring #CampaignAds #MusicComposition #FilmScoring #PoliticalMedia #CampaignCreative #AdMusic #ProTools

Garret Brubaker sits down with Scott Starrett, founder and director of Tandem, the communication design and brand strategy firm behind the original campaign identity for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Scott traces his path from drawing kid and C-SPAN watcher in Kansas, to creative director at an Austin political comms firm, to bootstrapping a New York studio focused on climate justice, advocacy, and public interest work. Along the way he breaks down what it actually takes to build a visual language for a movement, not just a candidate.

The conversation goes deep on the AOC poster: why yellow broke every convention of political design, how the speech bubble and inverted exclamation marks were chosen to feel authentic to Bronx and Queens, why the now famous progressive lean came from a space constraint, and how bilingual typography pushed the team into a tighter, sharper composition. Scott talks about the risk of running a Netflix style campaign poster in a sea of red, white, and blue lookalikes, the moment volunteers started fighting to hand them out, and the strange feeling of watching the design language get copied across the country.

Beyond the AOC story, Scott shares the philosophy behind Tandem's work: design is planning, visual identity is the tip of the iceberg, and the real job is helping organizations stop competing with razor subscription brands and start meeting their actual audience where they are. He gets into schismogenesis, the fluency gap between cause work and business marketing, why distressed fonts usually lie, and why the Buffalo Bills logo is great even though none of it makes any sense.

Key Takeaways

● The AOC identity worked because it broke political convention on purpose. Yellow, a speech bubble, inverted exclamation marks, and a forward leaning typeface treated a Bronx and Queens campaign like a Netflix launch instead of a yard sign blending into the median.

● Designing is planning. A logo is the tip of the iceberg, and without strategy, audience understanding, and narrative underpinning, a slick mark is just a nice facade on a building that is shitty on the inside.

● Every non-incumbent political campaign is a zero sum startup with a hard success or failure date, and the risk averse instinct to look like a politician usually costs progressive candidates the chance to actually stand out.

● Schismogenesis, the idea that cultures form in opposition to each other, explains a lot of why political branding is bad. Tactics get moralized just because the other side uses them, and good ideas get thrown out for tribal reasons.

● Access to the stakeholder is everything. Tandem spent real time with Alexandria before she won, which is why the brand fit her instead of dressing her up as a generic politician.

● A great mark is conditional and contextual. The Buffalo Bills name makes no logical sense, the Browns helmet is not even brown, and both work because they earned a story and stood the test of time.

Guest

● Scott Starrett, Founder and Director, Tandem. Scott Starrett is the founder and director of Tandem, a communication design and brand strategy firm focused on advocacy and public interest work, predominantly with nonprofits. He studied illustration and graphic design and previously served as creative director at a political communications firm in Austin, Texas, with his studio known for creating the original campaign identity for AOC.

Connect

● Creative Caucus on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecreativecaucus

● Studio Brubaker: https://www.studiobrubaker.com

● Tandem: https://tandem.nyc

● Tandem on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tandem.nyc

Hashtags

#CreativeCaucusPodcast #PoliticalAdvertising #PoliticalCreatives #CampaignStrategy #PoliticalMarketing #CreativeStrategy #BrandStrategy #PoliticalDesign #AOC #Tandem #LogoDesign #VisualIdentity #AdvocacyDesign #NonprofitBranding #DesignStrategy

Garret Brubaker sits down with Charlie Goldensohn, political strategist, commentator, and co-founder of Badlands Agency, for a candid conversation about how a former Dianne Feinstein staffer became one of the loudest voices in the left's organic media revival. Charlie walks Garret through the trajectory: Senate office at 21, chief of staff energy at ATTN: in LA, Jill Biden's digital director in Wilmington, Jose Andres advisor, senior advisor and executive producer on the Harris paid media team. Then, after watching the Harris campaign set six figures on fire making 30-second spots that died in testing, he picked up his phone and started ranting.

The conversation digs into what is actually broken inside Democratic creative right now. Charlie breaks down why "we need a Joe Rogan of the left" misreads how Rogan was built, why his audience skews 60% women on purpose, and why authentic, direct-to-camera content from people like Amanda Zurawski outperforms premium scripted ads at a fraction of the cost. He gets specific about the consultant economics that push campaigns toward expensive cable buys, the difference between running on "affordability" and running on free buses, and why the @chez.chuck handle started as a misunderstanding of French.

Garret and Charlie close on the bigger fight: how the left reclaims freedom and patriotism as its own, why Bernie's 2020 town hall video model still works, and what gives a 27-year-old in Florida hope when Zohran wins in New York. It is a tactical, opinionated, occasionally self-roasting look at where political creative goes next from someone making it and critiquing it at the same time.

Key Takeaways

● Charlie's path from Feinstein staffer to viral creator ran through ATTN:, Jill Biden's digital team, Jose Andres, and the Harris campaign's paid media operation, where he watched six-figure ad budgets die in testing rooms.

● @chez.chuck launched on TikTok with privacy settings cranked because Charlie was embarrassed. A shirtless beach video aimed at "MAGA dudes" cracked the algorithm and proved 90% of the battle is getting over the cringe.

● His audience skews 60% women on purpose. When women share his videos with the men in their lives, he reaches the lapsed-Democrat, Theo-Vonn-curious dudes the left keeps losing.

● The "Joe Rogan of the left" pitch fundamentally misreads how Rogan was built. Politics is downstream from culture and Rogan spent over a decade earning trust before he had political power. The fix is investment in digital infrastructure, not a single replacement voice.

● Organic is the smartest, cheapest testing ground for paid. Amanda Zurawski had zero TikTok followers when Charlie cold-messaged her. The two-minute, no-B-roll vertical they cut hit 1.6 million views in a week and put her on the DNC stage.

● Specificity wins. Zohran did not run on "affordability," he ran on free buses and free childcare. Democrats keep losing because they are obsessed with being correct and forgettable instead of memorable.

Guest

● Charlie Goldensohn, Political Strategist, Commentator, and Co-founder, Badlands Agency.

Charlie is a political strategist, producer, and co-founder of Badlands Agency who has built a large political audience online as a social media commentator. He began his career as a Senate staffer for Senator Dianne Feinstein after growing up in a politically active family in San Francisco.

Connect

● Creative Caucus on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecreativecaucus

● Studio Brubaker: https://www.studiobrubaker.com

● Charlie Goldensohn on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chez.chuck/

● Charlie Goldensohn on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chezchuck

● Badlands Agency: https://badlandsstories.com

#CreativeCaucusPodcast #PoliticalAdvertising #PoliticalCreatives #CampaignStrategy #PoliticalMarketing #CreativeStrategy #OrganicMedia #SocialFirst #CampaignCreative #DigitalStrategy #PoliticalContent #CreatorEconomy #BadlandsAgency #DirectToCamera #AuthenticMessaging