Prague, Oct 23 (CTK) – Brief profiles of Czech experts who markedly contributed to the political campaign of the ANO movement of rich businessman Andrej Babis that clearly won the general election in the Czech Republic this weekend (in alphabetical order):
Alexander Braun (40) – political strategist who worked for the U.S. agency Penn Schoen Berlan for a number of years and joined another U.S. agency, SKDKnickerbocker, this year. He specialises in political marketing, consulting and campaign strategies. He worked for the Czech Social Democrats (CSSD) in the past. He took part in over 70 campaigns all over the world, for example in Slovenia, Mexico and Thailand. He worked for Tony Blair and Hillary Clinton. He worked for the ANO movement even before the 2013 elections. In 2014 he was named the International Campaign Consultant of the Year by the American Association of Political Consultants. The American magazine Forbes called him a “campaign magician.” He studied international relations, receiving a BA at Charles University in Prague and an MA at Central European University in Budapest. He also has an MA in political campaign management from New York University.
Marek Hanc (30) – political consultant who was connected mainly with the Prague City Hall in the past. He studied political science at West Bohemia University in Plzen. He worked for the Civic Democrats (ODS). He was an aide to former Prague Mayor Pavel Bem and his successor Bohuslav Svoboda (both ODS) and later also current Prague Mayor Adriana Krnacova (ANO). He owned a small PR agency and worked for the BigBoard advertising company. In 2015 he briefly worked for trade minister Jan Mladek (CSSD). He joined Babis’s team in January 2016.
Lucie Kubovicova (40) – ANO spokeswoman. According to media, she is one of the few who can criticise Babis. She was an assistant in the Chamber of Deputies and at the Regional Development Ministry, later she joined the TV Nova foreign affairs editorial staff. In 2010 she was spokeswoman of defence minister Martin Bartak and then she worked at the Education Ministry.
Marek Prchal (43) – marketing manager and expert on social networking websites. Babis calls him a “genius of social media” and praised Prchal for the book presenting his political vision after the elections. He was among those who started the Mediar.cz marketing and media website. He worked on the presidential campaign of Karel Schwarzenberg and was aide to Prague Mayor Adriana Krnacova. He also focused on graphic designing and journalism.
Petr Topinka (45) – head of the creative team, creator of election slogans. He has worked for ANO since mid-2013. According to media, he is the author of the ANO slogans of the 2013 election campaign “Ano, bude lip!” (Yes, we’ll make it better!) and “Nejsme politici, makame” (We’re not politicians but hard workers). He prepares the general communication strategy for ANO. He was director of Mark BBDO advertising agency, in which he worked for 21 years.
Vladimir Vorechovsky (39) – ANO press section head. He began his career as sports editor at iDNES.cz news server and later in TV Nova where he became the editor of the main evening news. He then worked for Comunica communication agency. Four years ago, he was PR and marketing director of Babis’s Agrofert holding and now he holds a similar post in the ANO movement. He is active in the Panda Media company together with Babis’s brother-in-law Martin Herodes.
