If you’re anything like us, you remember the 2012 election as a long, unpleasant string of joke candidates, gaffes, Twitter fights, terrible debate performances and attack ads. The Obama campaign’s PR team, however, would like the public to see the president’s re-election as a very modern tale of data nerds winning the day.

As Jason Zengerle’s essay in New York Magazine demonstrates, research and tech tools played an outsized role in ensuring that the president’s campaign apparatus raised more money and recruited more volunteers in ‘12 than in ’08—despite the fact that most supporters weren’t quite as enthusiastic as they had been four years ago. Since election day, the press team has worked hard to push this story by staying positive and emphasizing the importance of app makers and number crunchers in the re-election campaign.

So how did these nerds do it?

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There’s no question that The White House knows its way around social media—President Obama’s “four more years” Instagram tweet quickly became the most liked and shared message in history.

Of course, officials like the President don’t just use Twitter and Facebook to post adorable pictures of themselves and their families—they also use it to drive strategy and influence policy. And yet, as we’ve seen in the past, social media is an unwieldy animal that many political groups struggle to master.

Exactly one year ago, The White House used Twitter to push an effort to extend a “payroll tax cut” that affected millions of Americans. That effort ultimately proved successful, but now Obama faces a new and potentially bigger challenge involving the much-discussed “fiscal cliff” that would result in massive spending cuts and the elimination of George W. Bush-era tax cuts if not addressed by congress before the New Year.

Obama recently debuted the hashtag #My2K, named for the approximately $2000 in yearly tax increases that would theoretically affect millions of middle-class Americans if congress doesn’t act. He tweeted his millions of followers encouraging them to offer personal stories of what that $2K might mean to them and their families—and to direct those messages to their representatives.

Sounds like a well-planned PR strategy—but will it work?

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Everyone interested in how to execute proper messaging in the wake of a crisis or tragedy should pay attention to J.Crew. In the days leading up to the storm, the company sent out its usual email blasts touting the “winter’s brightest coats”, helping customers figure out “how to wear winter whites”, or enticing them with subject lines like “Tweed, please”. The company didn’t mention Sandy itself until today, when its message read:

Expressing concern for storm victims? Check. Explaining how the crisis will affect customers? Check. Avoiding any attempts at humor or blatantly exploiting the crisis for attention? Check.

Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?