About Us
We are Counterpoint Messaging, an award-winning, battle-tested team of message and media experts who help candidates and causes win campaigns. We have created and placed media at every level in every state in the country.Our mission is to meld the art of advertising with the science of emotion to create winning campaigns for our clients across the country. We believe in the value of both and finding the right balance to create highly persuasive messaging is both our passion and the driving force of everything we do.
We know that not every campaign has millions of dollars and a full-time staff. That’s why we live by these core values for every single one of our clients:
We can do more with less.
Our team is lean, with high-value strategic partners in production, media and polling. We work with the best in the business, but we do it more efficiently and economically. Because of this structure, we are also expert collaborators who make the most of our partnerships with other consultants and clients.
We work smarter.
We never stop learning over the course of your campaign. We are always searching for a way to triangulate the three crucial components of every race: the strengths of a candidate or issue, how to position those against the opposition, and how to activate the motivation of the electorate.
We love a challenge.
We look at every campaign as an opportunity for our team to get better. We bring the same level of passion to every campaign we do. That’s why we have an incredible track record with underdogs and why we think great projects come in all sizes. Meet the people on our team who do these things for every one of our clients, big or small.
Our Team
John Rowley, Founder
John Rowley is the Founder of CounterPoint Messaging. His first work was in radio and television in Burlington, Iowa. Since then, Rowley has worked on over 500 political campaigns for Democrats in 47 states – winning 81 percent of his campaigns. He has worked with candidates from President and governor to city council. John has led research, messaging and paid communications for political campaigns and public affairs efforts in 45 states. Rowley has worked with 20 Members of Congress. Rowley has provided political analysis on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, FOX Business, Fox News and NPR.
His firm has won 50 Pollie Awards for excellence in political advertising. His commercials have been featured on NPR, PBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His firm’s work has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.For corporate clients, Rowley handles branding, advertising, video production and crisis management.
Kati Bumgardner, VP Media & Targeting
Kati Bumgardner is the Vice President of Media & Targeting for CounterPoint Messaging. Since 2008, Kati has managed over $70 million in media buys in 35 states and over 100 markets. When she isn’t personally placing buys, she also oversees a team of media buyers. Kati is originally from Central Illinois. She attended Belmont University in Nashville where she majored in Political Science.
Kati lives in Murfreesboro with her husband, their daughter and their retired racing greyhound, Shooter, and cats, Thomas Paine and Bea Arthur.
Maddie Atkinson, VP Communications
Maddie Atkinson currently works as the Vice President of Communications for CounterPoint Messaging, where she manages the communications between CounterPoint and its clients on everything from the production of spots to digital campaigns. Her background in press and communications on a mayoral campaign and her previous experience at a digital firm has given her a deeper understanding of how to create the right message for the right medium.She has previously partnered with over 45 clients to manage their social media ad campaigns and overall digital strategies.
Maddie is from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a B.A. in English Literature.
Matthew Arnold, Director of Campaigns
Matthew Arnold has worked in 34 states, covering dozens of campaigns for state and federal office. He is a national field trainer for Democracy for America and a speaker at conventions and progressive gatherings across the country.
He’s run campaigns for progressive champions like Lloyd Doggett, Mary Jo Kilroy, Jason Carter, and Darcy Burner. Matthew has designed sophisticated organizing operations for MoveOn.org, the Sierra Club, CREDO SuperPAC and a host of other non-profit and public affairs clients.
Halley Corapi, Director of Production
Halley Corapi currently serves as the Director of Production for CounterPoint Messaging, where she oversees planning and implementation of field and post-production and manages creative output from conception to final delivery. Raised by a father heavily involved in media and video post-production and a mother whose career has always revolved around journalism and communications, she has followed in their footsteps through years of freelance production work, writing and editing across a variety of commercial and creative projects.
Halley is originally from Knoxville, Tennessee. She attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where she studied English Literature and Creative Writing.