Why Koch's $250M Campaign Reveals an Apolitical Influence Play
The cost to mobilize mass audiences for national unity rarely approaches blockbuster marketing budgets. Charles Koch-backed Stand Together is deploying a $250 million push called Be the People around America’s 250th birthday.
Launched in the US across 2025–26, it enlists star marketers including Mark Cuban and veterans from American Express, Procter & Gamble, and McDonald’s. But this isn’t just a feel-good campaign.
Instead of overt politics, Be the People architects a scalable platform for civic engagement, volunteerism, and charitable giving designed to activate Americans without triggering partisan backlash.
Political division is the constraint; apolitical positioning is the leverage.
Contrary to the binary political battle, influence is won in the 'brand-safe' zone
Conventional wisdom assumes ideological campaigns require partisan messaging to succeed at scale. The Be the People initiative challenges that by embracing an explicitly apolitical brand—despite its Koch funding.
This constraint repositioning allows cooperation with blue-chip backers like Starbucks and JPMorgan Chase, expanding the coalition beyond ideological silos. Unlike America250, which faces criticism for partisan leadership, Be the People builds its advantage in nonpartisan cultural common ground.
This strategic move mirrors leverage failures seen in tech layoffs where companies ignored constraint repositioning and suffered growth hits. (See Think in Leverage).
Turning celebrity influence and marketing firepower into self-sustaining civic engines
The campaign has recruited six heavyweight marketers from General Motors, Hershey, and Progressive to deploy disciplined media strategies. Their goal: build a platform connecting individuals to volunteer opportunities and charities aligned with their interests.
This creates an ecosystem where active participants become distribution vectors instead of one-off event attendees. It’s a system designed to extend influence beyond a single campaign cycle, turning civic engagement into a compounding asset.
Unlike competitors relying heavily on short-term political mobilization or social media ads, Be the People seeks to replace acquisition cost with infrastructure cost—unlocking durable reach.
This approach aligns with how OpenAI scaled ChatGPT to billions by embedding value directly into user workflows—another example of turning engagement into infinite leverage (see Think in Leverage).
Why this shifts leverage in US civic influence and who will win next
The key constraint Be the People exploits is the volatility of partisan alignment. By sidelining divisive rhetoric, it broadens participation to blue-chip partners and cultural influencers, from Oprah Winfrey to Mark Cuban.
This coalition-building around a shared 'brand-safe' mission changes how influence campaigns scale. Instead of funneling budget into increasingly expensive and fractious social media buys, it builds a modular civic engagement system that spreads organically.
Other countries or movements facing polarization conflicts could replicate this system-level play to maintain unity without activating entrenched divides.
True leverage lies in making values and engagement so accessible they grow without constant human intervention.
Operators designing campaigns or platforms must ask: are you buying momentary attention, or building ecosystems that convert participants into autonomous advocates?
For examples of unlocking operational leverage beyond marketing, see how process documentation boosts execution speed (see Think in Leverage) and how AI adoption forces workforce evolution (see Think in Leverage).
Related Tools & Resources
As campaigns like Be the People demonstrate, effective coordination and management are crucial for engaging diverse audiences without triggering divisions. This is where Ten Speed can enhance your marketing operations, enabling teams to streamline workflows and optimize resource management for impactful civic engagement efforts. Learn more about Ten Speed →
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Be the People campaign?
Be the People is a $250 million campaign launched by Charles Koch-backed Stand Together around America's 250th birthday. It aims to foster civic engagement, volunteerism, and charitable giving through an apolitical platform.
Who are some notable contributors involved in the campaign?
The campaign has enlisted star marketers and influencers such as Mark Cuban, veterans from American Express, Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s, and partners like Starbucks and JPMorgan Chase to build a broad coalition.
Why is the campaign considered apolitical despite Koch's involvement?
Be the People intentionally positions itself as an apolitical initiative to avoid partisan backlash and build influence in a 'brand-safe' nonpartisan cultural space, enabling cooperation across ideological lines.
How does Be the People aim to sustain civic engagement?
The campaign creates an ecosystem connecting individuals to volunteer and charity opportunities aligned with their interests, turning participants into ongoing distribution vectors rather than one-time attendees, thus building a self-sustaining civic engine.
How does the campaign's strategy differ from typical political mobilization efforts?
Unlike traditional political campaigns focusing on short-term social media ads and partisan messaging, Be the People invests in infrastructure costs to build durable, modular civic engagement systems that organically spread influence.
What lessons from other industries does Be the People apply?
The campaign mirrors strategies like OpenAI's ChatGPT scaling by embedding value directly into user workflows, creating infinite leverage. It also avoids leverage failures seen in tech layoffs by embracing constraint repositioning for growth.
Can this apolitical civic engagement model be applied elsewhere?
Yes, the model could be replicated by other countries or movements facing polarization conflicts to maintain unity by building shared cultural missions without triggering entrenched divides.