Microtransactions and Beyond
Microsoft has hired Mark Penn–a well-known political strategist, pollster and CEO of the Burson-Marsteller public-relations firm–to a new corporate strategy role reporting directly to Steve Ballmer. The initial focus: igniting more consumer use of Bing, the Microsoft Web search engine. In an interview, Mr. Penn said he is assembling a […]
TIME IDEAS Who Should Romney Pick For Vice-President? The Republican strategist and Democratic pollster in their biweekly face-off about Election 2012 Penn: Obama’s pick of Biden in 2008 was based on filling a void in foreign policy experience, not to win the state of Delaware. Foreign policy was a […]
TIME IDEAS What Are American Values These Days? The Republican strategist and the Democratic pollster reflect on which core beliefs are still central to our lives. Penn: My hope this July 4th is that we focus as Americans on reviving our sport values — values that have made us great […]
Two-thirds of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to a survey conducted by Penn Schoen Berland. On NPR News Talk of the Nation, Mark Penn explains that though Americans are losing confidence in the nation, they have retained a sense of personal optimism. Listen to […]
By MARK PENN Published June 27, 2012 A new poll on values shows that there’s less faith in Washington, Wall Street, and even God. But Americans still think they can get anything they want through sheer hard work. America’s values are in upheaval, triggered by the advance of technology, prolonged […]
By MARK PENN Published June 21, 2012 The 137 million voters registered to go to the polls this November will not look like the 131 million who voted for President in 2008. And they are vastly different from the 96 million who voted the year Bill Clinton was re-elected. The […]
TIME IDEAS Was Obama’s Immigration Announcement Good Politics? The Republican strategist and Democratic pollster in their biweekly face-off about Election 2012 Penn: Obama’s announcement that the administration will stop deporting young undocumented immigrants is a win for the president on all levels. This order functionally enacts parts of the […]
TIME IDEAS The Case for Negative Campaign Ads Negative advertising can raise legitimate questions about candidates and are actually good for democracy It’s quite popular to condemn negative advertising. It’s a great applause line on the stump. Newark Mayor Corey Booker recently got front-page headlines by condemning Obama’s ads […]
President Obama faces his single toughest electoral challenge with white men – and his support for gay marriage, while favored by most voters, probably will make it an even tougher slog with this key group in Midwestern swing states. According to Gallup’s most recent tracking poll, only 40 percent of […]
Mark Penn is the President and Managing Partner of The Stagwell Group, a private equity fund focused on the marketing services industry.