RBI Strategies and Research

04/02/2025

40th Anniversary

Yesterday, RBI Strategies and Research celebrated its 40th anniversary. On April1,1985 we opened our office in Union Station, Denver CO. Our rent $100 a month included free parking. Things have changed; today parking for one night at Union Station is probably $100.

But RBI’s commitment to do good things for good people and organizations has not changed over 40 years. Only last month a radio spot, “Out of Town Rider,” we produced for “Save Our Schools Idaho” won a Reed Award for Best Radio for Public Affairs, Issue Advocacy or Ballot Initiative."

We have included below a very select list of RBI accomplishments over the 40 years.

Thank you to all the clients and friends who have made 40 years of RBI possible.

Rick Ridder and Joannie Braden

Summary of RBI Highlights

Candidate and Political Party Work:

• Helped elect 11 heads of state, serving as strategic advisor to 6 and pollsters to 5.
• Helped elect members of Congress across the U.S., heads of regional governments (premiers and governors), state and local elected officials, and parliamentarians throughout the world.
• Worked in 23 countries.
• Staff and partners worked in major roles in 13 U.S. presidential campaigns.
• For 19 years (1985 to 2004), every Colorado Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives was an RBI client.
• Since 1985 to today (40 years), every member of the U.S. Congress from the 1st (Schroeder and DeGette) and 2nd (Skaggs, Udall, Polis, and Neguse) Congressional Districts of Colorado have been RBI clients.
• General consultant or pollster for the Jared Polis campaigns for State Board of Education (2000), Congress (2008-2016), and Governor (2018 to current).

Cause and Ballot Initiative Work:

• Strategic consultants and pollsters to numerous non-profit organizations and causes, working on issues ranging from national park maintenance to roadless areas, to flood mitigation, land conservation, and enhancing community communications.
• Lead campaign consultants for the initiative to legalize medical ma*****na in Colorado (Amendment 20), the second state to legalize medical ma*****na.
• Strategic consultants to both the initiatives to legalize recreational ma*****na in Colorado (Amendment 64) and Washington (I-502) in 2012 – the first two states to legalize ma*****na for recreational use.
• Lead campaign consultants to the initiative to decriminalize and legalize therapeutic use of psychedelics and fungi in Colorado (Prop 122)in 2022, the second state to legalize psychedelics and fungi.
• Campaign consultants to the IE supporting the initiatives to close the gun show loophole in Colorado (Amendment 22) and Oregon (Measure 5).
• Strategic consultant to the Danish European Movement in their successful efforts to pass the national referendum on the Amsterdam Treaty.
• Strategic consultants and pollsters to defeating a judicial term limits initiative in Colorado, protecting a pillar of a fair and independent judiciary.

Awards and Recognitions:

• Received AAPC Pollie Excellence Awards twice: International Consultant of the Year (1999) and Statewide Ballot Initiative of the Year (2021).
• Won Pollie Awards or Reed Awards for radio, television, yard signs, billboards, online and digital advertising, newspaper display ads, social networking technology, and telephones for GOTV.
• One of the few firms to win Pollie Awards for both management and creative work; probably the only firm to win Reed and/or Pollie awards for management, creative work, and new technology.

04/01/2024

RBI just hit Jack Benny's permanent age - 39. April 1, 1985 was our start date...and we are still around and winning. Just this past weekend in a land far from Colorado our research team helped the good guys and gals fight back against the forces of evil. Thanks to friends, colleagues, clients, and lots of other folks for helping us through these 39 years. Rick and Joannie

05/20/2022

BREAKING: Cannabis Community for Fairness and Safety (No on 119) wins Statewide Ballot Initiative of the Year award, RBI Strategies and Research wins top award for Best Use of Radio in the Shoulda Woulda Coulda category from the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC).

At the 2022 AAPC Pollie Awards Conference this week, RBI Strategies and Research won two top awards for ballot initiative and radio efforts.

Colorado's Cannabis Community for Fairness and Safety (No on 119) campaign was announced as the winner of the coveted Statewide Ballot Initiative of the Year award. RBI was proud to serve as the general consultants for the campaign. The campaign faced numerous challenges in its effort to defeat a proposed 5% tax on the sale of recreational ma*****na in Colorado. They were outspent 24-1 and faced heavy opposition from Colorado public officials, including the Governor. Despite this, they defeated the measure by 9 points, surprising the politicians, the pundits, and the major foundations funding the opposing campaign. Congratulations to the entire No on 119 campaign team, including Counterpoint Messaging, Keating Research, Consumer Research Association, John Britz, Karen Crummy, Chuck Smith, Rachel Gordon, and the Cannabis Community for Fairness and Safety.

RBI also walked away with Best Use of Radio in the Shoulda Woulda Coulda category for the radio spot "Penny." In 2018, RBI wrote the script for “Penny” for District Attorney Bruce Brown’s re-election campaign. The script had special importance to RBI founder, Rick Ridder, because the 60-second spot tells the story of Brown’s commitment to justice for the murder of Ridder's high school classmate Penny Cunningham. The campaign went forward with another spot related to Brown’s achievements in office, and the script was shelved. In the summer of 2021 at his high school reunion, Ridder was speaking to another classmate, noted New Jersey radio newsman David Mathau, about Cunningham’s death and the script. Matthau agreed to do the voice-over. After recording the voice-over, both Ridder and Mathau agreed that a music bed was necessary. The choice was easy; music written by fellow schoolmate James Horner from “Titanic.” Horner also knew Penny, and Horner’s brother was Penny’s classmate as well. As Ridder puts it, “This is a testament to high school friends keeping their commitment to honor each other in the best way we can by using our creative talents."

05/16/2021

NEWS: We are proud to announce we have received several awards recently for our efforts on behalf of restoring wolves to Colorado with the Rocky Mountain Wolf Action Fund (Yes on 114). In those efforts, we worked closely with Nick Passanante of Boulder Strategies LLC in the production of the content. Boulder Strategies also oversaw the production and implementation of the digital campaign. See the press release below for more information.

You can watch "A Symbol of the West" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCBATkglaWg

01/14/2021

Rick Ridder's latest comments in the Colorado Sun:

In June 1994, I was sent to Macedonia by the National Democratic Institute to conduct “Democracy Training” in small communities in the new nation. Alan, my translator, and I were driving to a town about two hours from Skopje, the nation’s capital. Our driver was a member of a local community-o...

11/14/2020

NEWS: RBI Strategies and Research is pleased to announce that Rick Ridder was awarded the International Association of Political Consultant’s Founders Lifetime Achievement Award!

The award is presented to “that individual who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of the field of international political consulting and has upheld the highest values of the organization by contributing to the robust debate of world issues, civil discourse, and the sharing of knowledge of the democratic political process.”

In presenting the award, the Association cited Rick's efforts to promote the professional development of a multitude of consultants around the world – current and former employees, his students at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies, and colleagues in the industry. The Association also cited the words of former Colorado US Senator Mark Udall who recognized his “integrity and …sincere desire to work for the betterment of people.”

Upon receiving the award, Rick commented, “I am deeply honored to receive this award. I have been lucky to work around the world to help elect many fine men and women who had the courage to put themselves forward for their beliefs. But we should remember that the fight for free and open elections continues, here in the U.S. and around the world. We must continue that fight."

Join us in congratulating Rick!

07/24/2020

NEWS: The Great American Outdoors Act has now passed both chambers of Congress and is on its way to becoming law! This once-in-a-generation legislation restores and conserves our National Parks and fully funds the Land & Water Conservation Fund to protect our air, land, and water.

We are proud to have worked with clients in the first two years of this effort, laying the groundwork and relationships in Colorado to get both of our Senators and four of our Representatives to vote yes on its passage. During those two years, we hit the road to ten national park units in the state, organized leaders and elected officials in gateway towns on the legislation's impact on local economies, and worked with conservation partners to highlight the natural and cultural legacy of our public lands for current and future generations.