Secret ‘Sally surveys’ tested lord mayor’s brand

Ratepayer-funded strategists were commissioned by the City of Melbourne to conduct surveys and research on the personal popularity of Sally Capp as lord mayor.

Former lord mayor Sally Capp. Picture: David Caird

Ratepayer-funded strategists were commissioned by the City of Melbourne to conduct surveys and research on the personal popularity of Sally Capp as lord mayor.

RedBridge documents released to The Australian after a two-year Freedom of Information battle reveal Ms Capp’s political brand was tested in focus groups and polls.

The emergence of the personal polling of the former lord mayor, who retired three months ago, has raised eyebrows within town hall, with some figures questioning whether it was an appropriate use of public funds.

A RedBridge report, dated December 16-19, 2021, and entitled Capp Performance – Details, asked Melburnians if they agreed or disagreed that Ms Capp was doing a good job revitalising the city.

The accompanying data table revealed 22 per cent strongly disagreed or disagreed, 33 per cent were neutral and almost 45 per cent agreed or strongly agreed.

A RedBridge briefing document dated October 2021 on focus groups of Melburnians about Covid recovery found there was “spontaneous awareness” of the lord mayor’s profile and they believed she was “both an advocate for the city and a credible, non-political source of information”.

A three-page document, headlined Leadership & Communications, referenced specific comments made about the lord mayor in the focus groups.

They included:

“I trust what the (lord mayor) says. The (lord mayor) is the leader of the council and speaks for best interests of the city.”

“I haven’t seen the current (lord mayor) playing politics either. She’s not picking fights with the state government, she’s working with the state government to get good outcomes for the city.”

“She’s not having fights with the state or federal government, she’s trying not to play politics.”

The RedBridge analysis of the ratepayer-funded research made for positive reading for Ms Capp.

“Qualitatively, there is general awareness of the name of the current (lord mayor) with name ID higher amongst city workers,” the briefing note states.

“Assessments of the current (lord mayor) are mostly perceptual with limited definition, but all evaluations were positive. Even with probing, participants were unable to offer any negative associations.

“Participants view the (lord mayor) as unambiguously the leader of the City of Melbourne, and there is very little risk of over-communicating in this position. In fact, focus group participants expressed a need and want to hear more … on both social and mainstream media channels.”