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Communications « TV Ads |
Digital
Ads—Paid Video (Pre-Primary and Primary, Jan. 2019-)
Digital
Ads—Paid
Video
(Pre-Primary
and
Primary,
Jan.
2019-)
Increasingly people are viewing political ads not on TV but on their devices. There are many online advertising options including basic text ads, static display/banner ads, video ads, ads on Facebook and so forth. Digital ads can be targeted with considerable specificity. A challenge for campaigns and other groups is how to allocate resources among these options, which in part depends on the objectives for a specific communication, whether it be persuading voters, driving traffic to the websites, building email lists, fundraising, publicizing an event, or mobilizing voters.
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Blog
Ads
[Display/Banner]
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Paid
Video [Digital Ads]
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This page shows press
releases announcing paid digital/online (video) ads run in the 2020
presidential primary campaign.
TV ads are the gold standard for paid media in that they typically
involve a substantial investment of resources, six- or seven-figure
buys to have an impact.1 Paid digital/online (video) ads run
on platforms
such as YouTube and Hulu are an increasingly important part of
the paid media equation. In some cases a campaign simply doesn't
have enough money to put the ads on TV so it will do a digital
buy.
Digital spots have the targeting advantage, and also they are not
limited to the
traditional :30 and :60 lengths of TV ads. At times they may be
less polished such as unproduced short video clips from speeches.
Campaigns may announce that they are running these digital ads (or a
mix of TV and digital ads) via press release or they may give no
notice. An announcement shows there is a commitment of
resources. However a lot of digital ads are not
announced and go "under the radar." For example in Fall 2019 the
Gabbard campaign ran a lot of paid ads on YouTube featuring short video
clips of the candidate. The Sanders campaign is likewise using a
lot of video digital ads, in contrast to 2016 when it ran numerous
dlsplay/banner ads (+).
Distinguishing between TV spots and digital spots may be a
distinction without a difference. Does it matter if one sees an
ad on a computer screen or phone or a TV screen? In both
instances there is some
impact on the viewer, but a TV buy conveys seriousness on the part of
the campaign. From a research or academic point of view,
one wants to know if one is dealing with a "TV ad" and "digital ad" or
even a straight video. The campaigns are not always clear.
Finally, remember that a campaign can always
post a video on its YouTube channel as a free media alternative to paid
digital advertising. Videos sometimes get a lot of attention and
in rare occasions may go viral. Tthe campaigns put out so many
videos that from a
research perspective it is important to draw clear lines.
Note: Not all TV ad buys meet this criteria. Sometimes
a campaign will do a small, very targeted, often edgy TV ad buy and let
free media do the work.
Examples of Digital Ads
Pete for America
For Immediate Release:
January 16, 2020
Contact:
Ben Halle
Sean Manning
Pete For America Launches First-of-Its-Kind Digital Ad Program, "River to River: Iowa for Pete"
DES MOINES, IA –– Today, the Pete for America campaign launched a new targeted digital advertising program, “River to River: Iowa for Pete,” featuring county-specific digital ads heading into the final weeks before the Iowa caucuses. “River to River” includes dozens of variations of Facebook and YouTube spots, from user-generated content of caucusgoers from across the Hawkeye state discussing why they are caucusing for Pete. The ads will be targeted to the individual counties that the featured caucusgoers are from, with the goal of reaching potential caucusgoers through voices of their own friends and neighbors.
“Our campaign is committed to organizing everywhere -- in coffee shops, at people’s doorsteps, and online,” said Iowa Organizing Director, Kevin Groh. “Growing support for Pete happens one conversation at a time, and some of the most important conversations we can have are within our own networks, telling our friends, family and neighbors why we support Pete. These online ads will help us reach even more people with Pete’s message that invites everyone into the movement to defeat Donald Trump and restore a sense of hope and belonging in our country.”
To win the Iowa Caucuses you need to organize at the neighborhood level. That’s exactly what Pete for America has done and will continue to do in the coming weeks. As the Washington Post recently wrote, Pete for America has “woven themselves into the fabric of everyday life in communities across the state.” These digital ads are part of that effort, where caucusgoers will be able to hear directly from people who live in the same county as them why they’re supporting Pete’s campaign. They bring the effective relational organizing technique and critical elements of the Iowa Caucuses that Pete for America organizers have employed on the ground to the platforms where Iowans are spending more of their time on. The ads will also support Pete for America’s organizing efforts to build a community around the campaign by having supporters reach out to their friends, family, and personal networks to recruit supporters.
The first series of ads launching will focus on two-dozen Iowa counties that flipped from voting for Obama to Trump. Over the coming weeks, additional ads will be delivered to dozens more counties across the Hawkeye State. On his trip before the New Year, Pete visited four counties (Lee, Wapello, Jackson, Marshall) that flipped from Obama to Trump –– and he drew the largest crowd of any candidate so far this cycle in each place. Additionally, this week, Pete earned the endorsement of Congressman Dave Loebsack who represents Southeast Iowa which saw multiple counties flip from Obama to Trump in 2016.
Pete for America’s campaign in Iowa has over 30 field offices and 100 organizers that are working in every county across the state. In addition to traditional door knocking and campaign outreach, our organizers have spent months empowering thousands of volunteers to organize their own personal networks in Iowa. Through trainings, phone banks, and house meetings, our volunteers have worked with the campaign to build their own local grassroots networks of friends, family, neighbors, and acquaintances to support Pete. One of our supporters even recruited her chiropractor to become a Pete for America volunteer. Pete for America recognizes that a phone call or a message from a friend or loved one about why you support Pete is much more effective than a door knock from a stranger. “River to River” is part of Pete for America’s ongoing seven-figure digital advertising program across Iowa and will play a critical role in meeting caucusgoers on the platforms they spend their time on and through the networks they know and trust leading into the Caucuses on February 3rd.
Examples of the ads can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Bernie 2020
This 0:37 ad from Dec. 31, 2019 appeared at the end of a Fox News video ("Obama refuses to endorse Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders") on YouTube. Sanders, walking along the street, makes a pitch for contributions in advance of the year-end fundraising deadline.
Bernie 2020
December 29, 2019
Contact: Roger Ouellette
NEWS: Sanders Campaign Releases Digital Ad with Iowa Latina Activist and DACA Recipient
DES MOINES – Bernie Sanders’ campaign ahead of Sunday’s Unidos Con Bernie event in West Des Moines launched a new digital ad featuring Iowa Latina activist and DACA recipient Kenia Calderón Cerón.
WATCH: “Kenia”
In the ad, which debuts online days after an Iowa woman was charged with a hate crime after running down two young people of color with her car, Calderón Cerón calls out President Trump’s violent rhetoric toward Latinos.
“The current president has evoked a ton of violence toward my community, and I can’t stand still and watch us reelect him,” Calderón Cerón says in the ad. “The only candidate who will be able to defeat him is Bernie Sanders.”
Calderón Cerón is also urging her community to caucus for Sanders because of his consistency and trustworthiness.
“I value the truth, and out of all the presidential candidates in the race right now, Bernie Sanders is the only one who has been consistent with his message,” Calderón Cerón says in the ad. “He is the only one that I feel like is being honest with us.”
The ad was created entirely in-house by Sanders’ digital team. The ad can be seen here.
ed. note. This is a good example of an ambiguous release. It includes no mention of a media buy, leaving one to wonder whether it is really going to be run as a paid ad or is it just a video?
Bennet for America
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Saturday, December 21, 2019
CONTACT: Shannon Beckham
Bennet for America Announces First
$100,000 Toward
$700,000 Fundraising Goal, Releases New Ad on Bennet’s Town Hall Truth
Telling
MANCHESTER,
NH
—
Bennet for America today announced it has raised the
first $100,000 toward the $700,000
fundraising
goal
it unveiled earlier this week to have the resources to compete in New
Hampshire. Because of this progress, the original ad the campaign shared Tuesday — “Opposite of Trump” — will now hit the digital airwaves in New Hampshire. The campaign stressed it still needs to raise more to place it on television in the Granite State. Bennet for America also shared the next ad it plans to release, titled “Candid Conversations,” which focuses on Bennet’s willingness to answer every question and take every criticism at town halls, demonstrating why he is the best candidate to beat Donald Trump.
“I’m grateful to the outpouring of grassroots support that we’ve seen over the last few days from voters looking for a candidate who can beat Trump and build a stronger future for the next generation,” said Bennet. “We are building momentum here in New Hampshire, but to have the resources to compete, we must hit our $700,000 goal by January 16th.”
On Tuesday, Bennet for America shared a memo to supporters detailing its New Hampshire Investment Strategy. The campaign has laid the groundwork in the Granite State with new endorsements and an expanded operation to compete. However, without a significant uptick in fundraising, it will not have the resources to fully capitalize on those efforts and succeed on primary day. The funds from this new push will be used to promote the 50 town halls Bennet is holding before primary day, as well as for TV and digital advertising, more field staff, and a direct mail program.
Read the memo here.
Watch the “Opposite of Trump” and “Candid Conversations” here.
Read a transcript of “Candid Conversations” below:
I start almost all my town halls the same way.
I invite people to ask any question they have on any topic, and bring whatever criticism that they have.
And I tell them, “Ask me the questions you don't want to ask another politician because you're worried you'll hurt their feelings. I was an urban school superintendent for almost five years. It is impossible to hurt my feelings — they were beaten out of me a long time ago.”
The reason I say that is I want us to have as candid a conversation as possible, which is what this country desperately needs and what our kids desperately need.
And it's in that spirit that I'm committing to do 50 town halls in New Hampshire, day after day after day.
I hope you'll come out. I'll answer every question. I'll take any criticism.
But I think it's the way we're going to move this country forward. And I believe it's the way I'm going to get elected president.
Cory 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2019
Cory 2020 Launches New Ad:
“Our
Common
Cause”
30-Second Digital Ad Next Step for Cory 2020’s Six-Figure
BuyThe ad, titled “Our Common Cause,” highlights Cory’s commitment to bringing people together in common cause and common purpose to tackle big challenges -- because we don’t just need a candidate who can just beat Donald Trump, we need a president who can make justice and opportunity real for every American.
A week ago, Cory 2020 launched its first 30 second digital persuasion ad, titled “Love.”
The new full 30-second ad can be viewed HERE.
Below is a transcript of the ad:
BOOKER: We are at a moral moment in America. Our problems are big, and politicians are trying to pit us against each other
But we know that when people try to tear us apart, we win by standing together.
I’m running for President because I believe that if we join together in common cause and common purpose, we can do more than beat Donald Trump, we can build an America where there is opportunity in every community and justice is real for every person.
Together, we will take on the biggest challenges, we will heal our country, and we will rise.
Cory 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 2019
Cory 2020 Launches First Ad: “Love”
30 Second Digital Spot Backed By Six-Figure BuyNewark, NJ — Cory 2020 is launching its first paid persuasion advertising of the 2020 election cycle with a 30 second spot entitled “Love” that answers skeptics who question whether Cory Booker’s career-long commitment to bringing people together can beat Donald Trump. The fact is, creating uncommon alliances and unifying people in common cause is the only way to beat Donald Trump because it’s the only way that transformative change has happened in our history.
The ad and its variants will begin airing immediately on digital platforms and is part of a six-figure advertising effort Cory 2020 announced last week in an effort to reach the polling threshold needed to qualify for the December DNC debate in Los Angeles.
The full 30 second spot can be viewed HERE.
Below is a transcript of the ad:
BOOKER: I’m here today because of love. A heroic love that pushed people to march, knowing they could be beaten, and board buses, knowing they could be bombed. From Seneca Falls to Selma to Stonewall, the truth of America is that we win when we come together and show the best of who we are against the worst that we face. That’s how we’ve beaten demagogues and bigots before, that’s how we’ll beat Donald Trump. And that’s how I’ll lead as your president. I’m Cory Booker and I approve this message.
Bernie 2020
November 19, 2019
Contact:
Roger Ouellette
NEWS: Sanders Campaign
Releases
New Digital Ad in
Iowa
on
Social
Security
and
Lowering
Prescription
Drug
Prices
The ad, filmed at last week’s veterans and seniors town hall in Des Moines, highlights Sanders’ call to expand Social Security benefits and cap prescription drug costs at $200 a year. It features Sanders criticizing attempts by Republicans to cut Social Security.
The 30-second spot will run on Facebook, YouTube and a number of other platforms and was created by the campaign’s in-house advertising team.
The full ad can be seen here and the transcript is below:
“There are seniors in this country trying to figure out how they survive on twelve, thirteen, fourteen thousand dollars a year in Social Security -- who cannot afford the prescription drugs they desperately need.
Instead of cutting Social Security, we’re going to expand benefits.
Under our plan nobody in America will pay more than two-hundred dollars a year for all the prescription drugs they need.”
November 17, 2019
Contact:
Roger Ouellette
NEWS: New Digital Ad Features
Bernie Sanders and
Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez
in
Iowa
DES MOINES -- Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign this weekend launched a new digital ad featuring Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Iowa.
WATCH: “On the Road with AOC in Iowa”
The video features footage of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez joining Sanders volunteers to knock doors in Des Moines. In addition, the ad features speeches given by Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez at their joint events in Council Bluffs, Des Moines and Coralville, which had a combined audience of over 6,500 supporters.
In the ad, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez says, “I’m not here to watch a poll. I’m here to change the polls.” Since then, two new polls of Iowa show Sanders gaining in the state. Saturday’s Des Moines Register-CNN poll found Sanders gaining 4 points and Sunday’s CBS News-YouGov poll found Sanders overtaking first place with 22%.
This is the second digital ad to feature Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to run in Iowa. “Our Aspiration” has been running in the state since October.
November 5, 2019
Contact:
NEWS: Bernie 2020 Releases Digital Ad Featuring Iowa Campaign
Co-Chair Stacey Walker
New Digital Spot
Follows Announcement of Stacey Walker as Speaker at
Des Moines Climate Crisis Summit and Coralville Rally “We were raised on food stamps and lived in Section 8 housing. We lived in a very precarious position … I was gonna have to work twice as hard, be twice as good, in order to get ahead in this world. And it shouldn’t be that hard for folks,” Walker says in the video. “I would say to young folks out there, folks who are disaffected and are cynical about their politics, right now is the opportunity to change it and we’ve got to be a part of this movement to usher in a new era of progress.”
The video follows the announcement that Walker will join Sen. Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the Des Moines Climate Crisis Summit and speak at their rally in Coralville on Saturday.
Walker, who was named as the first Bernie 2020 Iowa Co-Chair, has adopted a vigorous campaign schedule since endorsing Sen. Sanders. Walker spoke to over 1,300 Iowans at an Iowa City rally, hosted an education roundtable with National Campaign Co-Chair Sen. Nina Turner in Cedar Rapids and helped lead over 1,500 supporters in last Friday’s March to End Corporate Greed.
The video can be seen here.
NEWS: Bernie 2020 Releases Digital Ad in Iowa Featuring Ocasio-Cortez
In the digital ad titled "Our Aspiration,” Ocasio-Cortez recounts the first time she heard Sen. Bernie Sanders’ vision for America. “We should have a society that guarantees 21st century economic human rights,” she says.
The 30-second spot started running this week. It is one of several digital and TV ads created by the campaign’s in-house team released this month showing the multi-racial coalition of support from women of color getting behind Sanders.
The full ad can be seen here and the transcript is below:
‘The first time I ever heard about Bernie Sanders was when I was a waitress. I didn’t have health insurance. I was being paid less than a living wage and I didn’t think that I deserved any of those things.
We should have a society that guarantees 21st century economic human rights.
What makes Senator Sanders very different is that his aspiration is our aspiration. That’s the kind of leadership that I think we need right now.’
Pete for America
For Immediate Release
October 15, 2019
Contact: Chris Meagher
Ahead of Debate, Pete for America Releases Paid Digital Ad Contrasting the Difference Between Pete and Elizabeth Warren on Health Care
Today, Pete for America released a new digital spot,
“Makes
More
Sense,” highlighting the difference between his health care
plan, Medicare for All Who Want It, with Elizabeth Warren’s support of
Medicare for All. The paid digital ad will run in Iowa on a variety of
platforms.
The ad highlights Pete’s bold approach to health care would not kick
millions of people off their private health care, and would give them
the option to choose the plan that’s right for their them. For more on
Medicare for All Who Want It, go HERE.
PFA Makes More Sense.png
"More Sense”
Read the ad’s full transcript below:
Candidate Pete Buttigieg has unveiled his plan to remake the US health
care system…Buttigieg wants to offer every American coverage under the
federal Medicare program but doesn’t want to force anyone to give up
their private health insurance plans…
…everyone is eligible, even if you currently get your insurance through
your employer, you’d still be able to buy into this public option if
you want to…
“Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren believe that we have to force
ourselves into Medicare for all, where private insurance is abolished.”
Pete for America
For Immediate Release
October 8, 2019
Contact: Chris Meagher
Pete for America Releases Digital Ad in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada
SOUTH BEND, IN — Today, Pete for America launched a paid digital ad to run statewide in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. The new 30-second spot, “Light the Way,” will run on social media platforms, YouTube, and Hulu across the three early states.The ad features footage from Mayor Buttigieg’s recent rally in Sparks, Nevada. When the power went out, the more than 800 attendees lit the stage with their phones to hear Pete finish his remarks. The text in the ad reads, “Even in dark times. Together, we can light the way to a better future.”
WATCH 'LIGHT THE WAY'
October 3, 2019
Contact: Kevin Donohoe
Pete For America Announces New Digital Ad Campaign in New Hampshire Focused on Pete’s Medicare For All Who Want It Plan
Manchester, NH — Today, Pete for America announced a new six-figure digital ad campaign in New Hampshire focused on highlighting Pete Buttigieg’s bold, new approach to health care. The new digital ads highlight Pete’s Medicare for All Who Want It plan, which lowers costs, creates real choice, and ensures affordable coverage for everyone.Three different ads — “Affordability”, “Choice”, and “Medicare for All Who Want It” — targeted at New Hampshire residents are currently running on Facebook, YouTube, Hulu, Spotify, and other digital platforms.
“Pete’s Medicare for All Who Want It plan achieves universal coverage and reduces health care costs, but without forcing anyone off their health care plan,” said Pete For America New Hampshire Communications Director Kevin Donohoe. “Politicians in Washington have allowed the pharmaceutical industry, giant insurance companies, and powerful hospital systems to profit off of people when they are sick and at their most vulnerable — and made it harder for Granite Staters to access health care. By making care more affordable and available to everyone, Pete’s proposal would finally put Americans back in charge of their own health care decisions and their lives.”
Watch “Choice”, “Affordability”, and “Medicare for All Who Want It” below:
Watch “Choice”
Watch “Affordability”
Watch “Medicare For All Who Want It”
Pete’s Medicare for All Who Want It plan addresses the fundamental problem in the health care system today - cost. While it also achieves universal coverage, it is notably different from other Medicare for All plans in that it doesn’t force Americans off private plans they may want to keep, but offers them a meaningful public alternative. Under Pete’s Medicare For All Who Want It plan, the 57 percent of Granite Staters who receive insurance through their employers would have the choice to keep their private plan.
New Hampshire residents are already paying too much for health care. Since 2015, average monthly premiums in the state’s marketplace have increased by 60 percent. Pete’s plan would make marketplace coverage more affordable for Granite Staters by restoring and expanding cost-sharing reduction payments to health plans and capping premium payments at 8.5 percent of income. And for private plans, Pete’s policy would lower overall costs by reducing high administrative costs and prohibiting providers from charging more than twice what Medicare pays for the same service.
“CHOICE” TRANSCRIPT:
PETE BUTTIGIEG: “Addressing our health care crisis starts with putting you in charge of your health care with affordable insurance and real choice. Medicare for All Who Want It is different than Medicare for All because this gives Americans a choice.”
“AFFORDABILITY” TRANSCRIPT:
PETE BUTTIGIEG: “I’m Pete Buttigieg and I know that getting health care in America is too expensive, too complicated, and too frustrating. Medicare for All Who Want It — its purpose is simple: to make health care far more affordable for everyone.”
“MEDICARE FOR ALL WHO WANT IT” TRANSCRIPT:
PETE BUTTIGIEG: “Medicare for All Who Want It — its purpose is simple: make health care far more affordable for everyone.”
Julián for the Future
For Immediate Release: Friday, August 16, 2019
Contact: Sawyer Hackett, National Press Secretary
As Fears of Recession Grow, Julián Castro Releases Ad Targeting Trump’s Failing Economy
SAN ANTONIO, TX (May 16, 2019) – Speaking directly to Donald Trump in an empty warehouse in Iowa, presidential candidate and former Obama Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Mayor of San Antonio, Julián Castro, released a new ad online highlighting President Trump’s failing economy, citing increasing drug prices, a worsening immigration crisis, slow job growth, and mounting fears of a recession.With recent reports suggesting a recession may be looming, Secretary Castro highlights Trump’s shameless strategy to distract the American people by inciting hateful and divisive rhetoric, in hopes of concealing his failed economy.
On Tuesday, Julián Castro released another ad titled, ‘Ya Basta’ which directly linked Donald Trump’s dangerous, white nationalist rhetoric to the El Paso shooting which targeted the Latinx community.
“Donald Trump's presidency is a failure by any measure” said campaign manager Maya Rupert. “He squandered a booming economy from Barack Obama and lined the pockets of corporations and the wealthiest few, at the expense of working families. He thinks he can distract Americans from his failures by dividing us—but Julián won’t be distracted. He will keep fighting for hardworking Americans and exposing Donald Trump for the failure that he is.”
Speaking directly to Donald Trump, Julián Castro recites the following in the video:
“Hello, Mr. President. Julián Castro here, in one of the many empty warehouses in Iowa. I’m sorry that your Presidency is failing.
Drug prices are up. The immigration crisis is worse. The debt has exploded. Job growth slowed. Not a lot to run on there.
So, you’re trying to distract us. And divide us, with dangerous and hateful rhetoric. I won’t be distracted. I’m going to keep the American people focused on your failed record.
I’m Julián Castro and I approve this message because I love our country, and we can do better than you.”
The video ad, ‘Sorry You’re Failing’ is running in Iowa on several digital platforms including Facebook, Spotify, Hulu, YouTube, and Google Display with an additional investment to come of $50,000.
***
Bullock for President
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 14, 2019
Bullock Campaign Releases New Ad: “Really?”
Helena, MT – Today, Montana Governor Steve Bullock’s campaign for President released a new digital ad, “Really?,” after the DNC blocked the only candidate who has won and governed a Trump state from the debate stage.
The ad features a Montanan named Jock. He describes how it doesn’t take an expert to know that, if we want to beat Donald Trump, we need a proven leader like Governor Bullock who can win back the places we lost and get our country back on track.
“When the DNC blocks the leading Democratic voice on rural America from contributing to our Party's vision, we’re only making it that much easier for Donald Trump to be a two-term president,” said Galia Slayen, Bullock for President Communications Director. “Governor Bullock’s victories in a state Trump won by 20 points are a roadmap for the Democratic Party, and rules set by Washington elites make it harder to take back our country.”
Transcript:
Jock: “Yeah, I heard the news. DNC’s saying Governor Bullock doesn’t qualify for the debates. That’s horse [expletive].
“You don’t need to be from Montana to know that anybody who wins by four the same election that Trump won by 20 is doing something right here.
“He doesn’t qualify...really?
“What are you waiting for? Go and donate.”
Copyright © 2019, 2020 Eric M.
Appleman/Democracy in
Action. 