Campaigns, Advocacy Organizations Hiring Digital Directors

In the new world of political campaigns, the position of Digital Director is every bit as important as Press Secretary.

The Mitt Romney Exploratory Committee, which will become a full blown presidential campaign on Thursday after he announces in New Hampshire, has hired Zac Moffat (pictured at right) to run the in-house digital efforts, according to a report on Clickz.com.

Moffatt's mission is to “take all the activities that occur offline and make sure they have an online platform for people to engage with,” he said.

Moffat was previously a partner at Republican digital agency Targeted Victory, where he helped run digital campaigns for candidates, including U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL).

In 2008, Moffat ran the political education training at the Republican National Committee.

In Romney’s 2008 campaign, his E-Strategy Director was Mindy Finn, whose firm, Engage, is now working for presidential candidate and former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN).

The 2012 reelection campaign of President Barack Obama, based in Chicago, recently named Teddy Goff (pictured at left) as Digital Director.  Goff was previously Associate Vice President for Strategy at Blue State Digital.  Here's a 2009 Q&A with Goff.

Professional digital staff are not just required by national campaigns, they are required by national advocacy groups.

According to Clickz.com, advocacy organization No Labels, which aims to solve major problems plaguing the country through bipartisan means, has hired a Director of Digital Communications.

Joe Mansour (pictured at bottom right), who has worked as an Account Director with digital agency David All Group, said he will start this week with No Labels. He plans to "build up an online army over the next year," according to an email sent to ClickZ.  (Clickz.com)