All Hail Speaker Johnson
Doomscroll 10.29.23
Happy Sunday and welcome to another edition of your favorite newsletter. If you had “Speaker Mike Johnson” on your Bingo card, I salute you and tip my hat. I also don’t believe you because literally NO ONE had “Speaker Mike Johnson” written on a Bingo card or anywhere else for that matter. Strange times, indeed.
Anywho, let’s get down to business. If this was forwarded to you, do me a kindness and subscribe! If you’re reading this because you’re already on my list (winning!) then do me a different kindness and forward to some of your peeps in the GOP digital world! Remember: silence is violence.
One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about Joe Biden getting on Truth Social. About 2/3 of you said you could care less, and I get it. At this point, it seems like such old news that I could care less too! So let’s just move on, shall we?
This week’s One Question is about one of my all-time favorite things. MEMES. It’s pretty simple: What rules or guidelines do you follow when it comes to deploying memes on social media? I’m genuinely curious. I love memes and generally advocate for their use (see more below), but are they a good idea for every client? Maybe, maybe not. Let me know!
Who’s Doing What
--Be careful what you wish for!
We have a new speaker. Presumably, Mike Johnson of Louisiana wanted the job. He may soon come to regret it, amirite?! Anyway, Congrats to him. There’s not much left to say about his ascension to being second in line to the presidency (what a world!) But I did read with interest all the hand-wringing about his ability to raise money. Here’s some of it, in Politico:
Compared to those with committee gavels or longstanding positions in House leadership, Johnson has been a relatively lackluster fundraiser for most of his career. Since he was elected in 2016, he has never raised more than $1.4 million for his campaign over any two-year election cycle. In 2022, he ranked 276th among all House incumbents who sought reelection in terms of total fundraising, according to FEC data, and in the bottom half among Republican members as well.
He also has lacked the same small-dollar operations from which a number of his peers benefit. More than 90 percent of the Louisiana lawmaker’s fundraising over his career has come from large donors and PACs, but he has largely relied on the same sources as other Republicans, according to a POLITICO analysis of contribution data over the last three cycles.
Johnson is, according to this piece, an Axiom client. So let’s all wish them well. Already they seem to be off to a decent start, as I’ve gotten several fundraising emails since he became Speaker. I’m going to remain optimistic, a la Mike Hahn and Jon Adams (see their takes below). They’re smart dudes who have been in the online fundraising world for a while. If they’re not worried, I’m not worried! And remember: If little Mike Johnson can become Speaker of the House, you can do anything. Claw back that digital budget! Convert that email list into donors! Go viral! Anything is possible!
--The other Mike
Forget about Mike Johnson for a minute. There’s another Mike in Washington we need to talk about (Mikes unite!) Where has Mike Collins been all my life? The Representative from Georgia has been churning out the memes left and right the last couple of weeks and from where I set, made Twitter at least a little bearable. This is doing content right as an elected official, my friends. There’s seriousness, there’s humor, there’s personality, and above all, there’s memes. I’m not saying the man is a digital genius, but what I am saying is his Twitter feed is very enjoyable and that’s tough to pull off these days! So, let’s hear it for Mike Collins!
--Blake Masters in the HOUSE
Black Masters is running for ::checks notes:: the U.S. House of Representatives. Why? Because who WOULDN’T want to join the House GOP caucus right now? I kid, I kid. This is an interesting development because I would have bet you $25 a couple weeks ago that he would be running for Senate. I guess Kari Lake scared him off!? Anyway, in all seriousness, you should watch his announcement video. It’s darn-near perfect. His website is…interesting…but I don’t hate it. I really don’t remember his Senate campaign branding, so I can’t say whether this tracks with that or not. I’m a little disappointed that there’s no merch store, but I’m sure it’s in the works (right?). All in all, good stuff.
2024 Roundup
Asa Hutchinson released his first campaign ad. Watch it here.
The New York Times has declared that Ron DeSantis “lost the internet.” Read why here.
Never Back Down PAC released a video accusing Nikki Haley of lying about her stance on accepting refugees. Watch it here.
Tim Scott has a new bio ad targeting Iowa. Watch it here.
Doug Burgum did an interview with Inc. Magazine to talk about A.I. Read it here.
Vivek Ramaswamy has a new ad targeting voters in Iowa. Watch it here.
Tell It Like It Is PAC had an ad running on Facebook highlighting Chris Christie’s ability to lead on a global stage. Watch it here.
Mike Pence dropped out. Read about it here.
Merch Shout-out
It’s been a while since I’ve done a merch shout-out and today I would like to honor Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw. Has anyone ever checked out his merch store? I have to be honest: I hadn’t until this week. It is legit. It is also not a WinRed store (interesting!). A couple items really stand out. First off, the authentic eye patch you can purchase for a mere $35. So on brand. So perfect. I’m also partial to the Crenshaw shot glass. Don’t ask me why. All around, a solid A+ for the gentleman from Texas!
Who’s Spending Where
From 10/19 - 10/25, the top conservative spender on Facebook ads was the Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism with $197,595. And yes, right now I considering them a center-right group. Maybe if the left decides to denounce Rashida Tlaib, I’ll reconsider. PraguerU spend the second-largest amount, with a little over $175,000. AFT Action spent $174,000, and American for Prosperity spent about $169,000. Coming in fifth place is Protect Women Ohio, which spent just shy of $110,000 on ads about Issue 1.
From 10/19 - 10/25, the top spender on Google was AFP Action, with $174,000. Make America Great Again Inc spent about $89,00 on ads, and SFA Inc spent $40,000. Rounding out the top five are Never Back Down Inc and Protect Women Ohio, who spent $36,000 and $29,000 respectively.
P2P
Industry Watch
This is a good read from Digiday abut how social media managers approach the adoption of new platforms. Specifically:
Exploring a new platform requires resources — less in terms of ad dollars and more in terms of manpower — to experiment, establish KPIs and measure metrics around community engagement for each platform as it develops. Depending on the nature of the platform, whether it be video or audio-based, resources go beyond the social team, extending to media teams for creative, visual assets or audio teams for sound quality, as was the case with Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces. If the juice turns out to be worth the squeeze, a new platform means learning new user behaviors, building a new audience and sometimes, creating a new brand voice to appear more authentic on said platform.
…
Because there are so many emerging platforms at once, agencies say a measured approach is important, tracking user engagement, audience growth numbers and ad opportunities. Especially as each new platform means building a new audience, learning new user behaviors and creating content. When an app falls out of favor with users, it falls out of favor with marketers and advertisers as well, per agency execs.
It gave me a new appreciation for the work social media bees do day in and day out. A lot of work, forethought and planning goes into an effective social media strategy (or should), and requiring a team (or let’s face it - single team member) to get on every single new platform that pops up is 100% unrealistic. It just is. So think twice before you decide Threads or BeReal IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER.
The Grapevine
ICYMI: Kate Holliday of Powers Interactive has a piece in Campaigns & Elections titled, “How the Deprecation of Cookies Will Impact Inventory SPO”. Give it a read!
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Fav Halloween movie? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Up first: NPR waxed poetic about Democrats’ use of TikTok (don’t worry, no Republicans were mentioned in the writing of this story). In it, Biden digital guy Rob Flaherty make the point that the campaign’s strategy doesn’t revolve around Team Biden actually being on TikTok; it relies on tapping into pro-Biden influencers to be on TikTok for them. I wonder how many more pieces were going to have to read about this between now and November 2024.
Up next: Black Votes Matter ran a racist ad about Daniel Cameron in Kentucky, because hey, why not? That’s the progressive thing to do!
Last but not least, Katie Porter is now on Substack.
From the other side of the tracks:
For those of you looking for last-minute Halloween-themed content ideas. Look no further.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!