Page 32 - South Mississippi Living - June, 2016

PEOPLE and the award goes to
A Winning Campaign
Veteran local politicos win national awards
story by Lynn Lofton photos by Teddy Lewis
Alot of winning political campaigns in South Mississippi have something in common — they have the collaboration of two local advertising executives, Reed Guice and Ted Riemann. These two veteran politicos know the ropes of running successful campaigns as well as knowing where all the bodies are buried, in a manner
of speaking.
No strangers to winning professional awards, the duo was recently
honored by the American Association of Political Consultants with the 2016 Pollie Award, a hallmark of the best work in political advertising. The award is for the commercial titled “Rocket Scientist” for Andrew FoFo Gilich’s campaign for mayor of Biloxi. The commercial was written by Guice, owner of the Guice Agency, and produced by Riemann, owner of the Prime Time Agency.
“This is a distinguished achievement for our firm, our creative partners and most of all for our client, Mayor Gilich,” Riemann said. “To be judged by our peers on creativity and political effectiveness, it’s truly an honor and testament to everyone’s hard work.”
Guice added, “It’s not easy to win among our peers. This commercial was judged as one of the best that aired in the nation.”
Additionally, “Rocket Scientist,” “I Am Biloxi” and “Right Track” commercials for Gilich’s campaign won two local Addy awards and two national Telly awards. For the Telly, “Rocket Scientist” was chosen from more than 13,000 entries nationally.
Guice began political consulting in 1976 and Riemann in 1979. At first the two were competitive enemies. “Reed was so good, he made me look bad, and he beat me a couple of times so it came to me that we should work together and win,” Riemann said. “We work well together. Reed is a creative genius with concepts, and my forte is on the organization side. We balance each other.”
And for his part, Guice says, “Ted’s organizational skills are par excellence. He also has a big heart, something people may not know.”
As they look back on past campaigns, they recall the campaign for Highway Commissioner Bob Joiner that’s in the Guinness Book of World Records for the closest election. In a district that includes 27 counties in South Mississippi, Joiner won by five votes. Another memorable contest was pulling off a major upset against an incumbent district attorney.
32 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • June 2016
FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net