Tag: digital

When the Dust Settles

November 9, 2020

The dust is finally starting to settle. On first count, the President of the United States has unofficially been selected, the House leans left, and control of the Senate is potentially in the hands of Georgians. Nothing unusual to see here in 2020. But how did we get here?

According to an Advertising Analytics update, It took $8,395,330,216 across 5,618 elections to get to this point. Did I mention this equates to 9.4 million ads across traditional and digital media? To put this into comparison, the 2018 midterm elections came out to over $5.7 billion dollars. In 2016, all federal campaigns came out to $6.5 billion dollars. The total spend for 2020 is astronomical, and how it was used was just as amazing.

The Trump campaign took a strong focus on YouTube in the election. For both Election Day and the day prior to Election Day, the Trump campaign purchased the YouTube Masthead. Exact costs are unknown, but it’s estimated to cost $2,000,000 per day. However, Trump was one of the last organizations to purchase it. Going forward, advertisers will be able to purchase the masthead on a per impression basis. This is a radical change from the full day reservations that have been allowed up until now. It’s unknown if Trumps use of the masthead led to this change, but now no campaign or company will be able to buy it out right for a day.

The Biden campaign, on the other hand focused on a more standard advertising course. Broadcast television and Facebook ads took the lead. But unlike previous presidential candidates, Vice President turn President-elect Biden focused on national buys instead of local buys. This is an unusual move for a candidate. And it was made possible by the truckloads of cash his campaign was able to pull in. National buys, unlike local DMA level buys, have insurmountable reach across the country. But they come with a price tag no candidate dreamed of paying, until now.

As we move forward, candidates up and down the ballot will start preparing for 2022. There were many new techniques and challenges that presented themselves in 2020. Candidates across the country each approached the challenges in their own way, thus creating new playbooks that may or may not be used again. Digital advertising continues to grow across the races, but it looks like the tried and true “Broadcast is King” mentality may have won the 2020 elections.

How I Got Here

October 4, 2020

How does a politics major from Drake University end up in advertising? I believed in the invisible hand of a free market society. Most people with a politics degree use it as a pathway to law or into political campaigning. Both crossed my mind and I did take a practice LSAT, but neither screamed for me to follow them. Instead, I pursued advertising.

Politics is inevitable. Advertising, both corporate and political, is inevitable. Political advertising interfering with corporate advertising every two years is inevitable. But corporate America advertising never tries to understand political advertising and how to work through it. They just accept it as an inevitability and destruction to their campaigns for six months. And that’s where I sold my value. I understood the politics, and was quickly able to pick up the real-world corporate advertising. When these two concepts are combined, an amazing force is created.

In terms of advertising, there has been a see-sawing motion between who leads who. Some decades politics took the lead, and others had corporate America. As a guy working corporate America advertising, and heavily researching political advertising, I can say that corporate America is leading. Digital ads are great, an getting a million targeted impressions sounds nifty. Hell, for a few bucks a day, you can run a six times frequency targeted ad at a small audience for months on end. Digital is filled with infinite inventory and countless targeting. But is it working?

Advertising is a beautiful place where anyone can be right. With enough ingenuity and justification, any tactic, budget, target, and timeframe can make sense. But how effective was it? Did it actually move the needle? Was there research behind the plan? Or did some guy just say this is what we need to do because I said so and have won 70% of campaigns I managed?And will be the focus. It’s time research and science take a look at political advertising. No longer should ad campaigns be designed because it worked for candidate Z in the last election. Let’s throw it all on the table and figure out what gets the electorate to vote. And hopefully toss out a few ideas still in use from the 1950’s.