Tag: election

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.

T minus 24 Hours

November 2, 2020

It’s election day’s eve. The candidates are doing their last minute rounds, political ads are primarily positive, and the world waits to see what the outcome is. A lot of focus, as it should be, is centered on the candidates. What did they say? What didn’t they say? How does their past look? Are they strong enough to handle the future? Is America ready for them? But we don’t focus a lot around the election advertising.

I know what you’re thinking. What about all all the reports on how many BILLIONS of dollars are spent on political advertising. Or all of the crazy reports on Facebook political advertising. Now before you think I’ve jumped off the deep end and am crazy, let me explain.

The media covers the surface level political advertising regularly. We hear about candidate So And So spend millions of dollars in their district. But how did they spend that money. What audiences was it directed at? Did those audiences turn out? Or were they bored to death with two ads at a frequency high enough to be considered cruel and unusual punishment? It’s an unspoken norm that candidates should not have money in the bank by the end of election day. If there is an extra dollar at the end, then it could have been one more dollar they spent to reach one more persuadable voter that could have tipped the election in their favor.

I respect that. But what if a slight portion was allocated to run a post mortem on the ad campaign of that cycle? Think of the valuable lessons that could be learned from looking at what was spent, on which audience, when, how, and compare it to how they voted? And I’m not just talking about digital ads. It should be across the entire advertising campaign. From day one to election night. From Outdoor Boards and TV to that small annoying banner ad the bottom of most screens. Corporate America does this well. They care just as much about the end result as how they got that result.

There’s a saying from George Santayana that’s worth ending on, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. Let’s do more than remember the past. Let’s analyze it like our life depended on it.

The Facebook Embargo

October 26, 2020

If you haven’t already heard, Facebook is going on the offensive against political advertisers. In the last twelve months, Facebook has allowed users to opt out of political ads, prevented creating last minute ads before the election, and will ban political ads after the election. So it looks like that inexpensive and effective way to reach the electorate just evaporated into thin air for the next few months. Beyond the obvious, what have political advertisers up and down the ticket lost?

A 2020 scholarly article titled Political Advertising Online and Offline took a deeper dive into the how Facebook advertising has been used. It’s a fascinating dive from a scientific perspective on Facebook political advertising. The researched noticed that Facebook advertising increases advertising quantity, can increase fundraising, and allows placing the right message in front of the right audience. Better yet, an individual running for city council in a town of 1,000 could afford to run ads as targeting as both Presidential candidates. I mean, all levels of candidates are going to need an individual like myself to get the most out of Facebook advertising, but the door was previously open without barriers to entry.

This is where having the right team can make the difference in winning and losing an election. Facebook was great. Better yet, social media platforms across the board were great for political advertising. But they are not the end all, be all of advertising. They are merely a tool. And if your media buyer knows what they’re doing, they know there are other tools in the toolshed. Just as capable, just as reliable, maybe not as shiny, but they will get the job done. So why are you using a specialist in one category when you could be using an agency specializing in all advertising?