And the Textie Goes To...
Doomscroll 3.5.23
Sponsored Language Stuff: Today’s edition of Doomscroll is sponsored by RumbleUp.
RumbleUp is an award winning political peer-to-peer texting platform used by all the major GOP national committees along with 2,500+ campaigns and organizations across the country to quickly engage any size audience via SMS, MMS and Enhanced Video Text.
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One Question
Since this edition talks a lot about p2p texting, I want to know your thoughts about this relatively new medium. So here’s my One Question: What’s your biggest concern about political text messaging? Is it over-saturation? Future regulations? Transparency? Let me know!
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about whether tech companies should be held liable for content pushed by the algorithms. A third of you said yes; two-thirds of you said no. Pretty cut and dry!
Who’s Doing What
--The 2022 Textie Awards
Alright, friends. Let’s get down to some business. A couple weeks ago I was asked to judge the 2022 Textie Awards contest. I saw lots and lots of great use cases for p2p texting from the 2022 Midterms. Seriously: so many good campaigns! Well done, all. This week I am honored to get to announce the winners. So what are Textie Awards, exactly? Glad you asked.
The Textie Awards are a political award dedicated to highlighting excellent use cases of peer-to-peer texting by leading campaigns and organizations using RumbleUp and partner whitelabel platforms across the country. Entries were judged based on the overall effectiveness, quality of execution, and creativity of the submissions. Winners are recognized as pioneers in their awarded category for using this technology in an innovative and measurable way. And the winners are…
Best Reply of 2022 = "Election Machine Up Here in Rancho Riata for You" submitted by the Committee to Elect Eric Eisinger
Best Video Message = "Defend My Church" submitted by CatholicVote
Best MMS Message = "Highly Targeted Meet and Greet Invitation Helps Kiggans Secure Victory" submitted by co/efficient
Best Overall Texting Program = Committee to Elect Eric Eisinger
-- Close to the Chest
Nikki Haley’s campaign is keeping initial fundraising numbers to themselves, much to the chagrin of many in the media. Here’s my take: Who cares. The media is obsessed with narratives like these because it makes their jobs easier (it’s also easy to write these stories when you’re only talking to Dem operatives!) Maybe the Haley Team isn’t reporting fundraising numbers because the numbers aren’t great. Maybe they’re not reporting fundraising numbers because they simply don’t want to. Either way, looking at money raised this early in the game is a poor stand-in for viability or voter enthusiasm. Let’s wait until the field has filled out some more before we start making assessments based on fundraising numbers. And just as an aside, one of my biggest gripes when it comes to working in digital politics is that so often we’re asked to execute a certain strategy for the sole purpose of chasing positive headlines and good earned media. Don’t get me wrong: I like being a team player, but effective digital shouldn’t be oriented around the next day’s clips. Sorry not sorry.
P.S. Also- let’s not pretend like we all don’t know that any number a campaign releases a week after its launch is probably, most likely, definitely, for the most part, a bunch of B.S.
--Restoring Sanity
A group called Citizens for Sanity, which spent heavily during the 2022 Midterms, is out with an interesting new ad. Watch it here. It clocks in at 60 seconds, but I definitely don’t hate it. The group is doing some interesting stuff around anti-wokeism, and I’m here for it. It’s not clear though, if they’re actually putting any money behind this spot.
--Ready for those Benjamins
Ready for Ron, the group solely focused on drafting Ron DeSantis for president (as if he needs any persuading) has been ramping up its efforts. I got a fundraising email this week from the group for the first time (that I can remember?) In January, Fox News reported the group was planning to spend more than $3 million to make sure the Florida governor becomes the GOP nominee in 2024. The digital nerd in me found a couple things interesting. First, I got the email by way of a list rental. Second, the group is using Anedot - not WinRed. Does it matter? Not at all; I just find it interesting.
Who’s Spending Where
The top center-right spender on Facebook ads from February 24 - March 2 was Newsmax, at $274,773. PragerU came in a distant second with $78,000 in ad spend, while Judicial Watch came in third at around $45,000. The Daily Wire and something called Proud Patriots came in fourth and fifth places, respectively. What is Proud Patriots? Shame on you. Have you not gotten your FREE Trump Gold $1,000 dollar bill? Or the Trump pin pack?? Tsk tsk.
During that same time frame on Google, Nicholas Perhai spent the most on ads promoting Trump gold bars (bizarre). Vivek 2024 is running search ads directing people to his campaign website (good for him; he’s come a long way!). JAX First rounds out the top three. The group is still spending heavily on its ad attacking Daniel Davis in the Jacksonville mayoral race. A group called Advancing American Freedom Inc is running a couple 30-second ads attacking President Biden for decimating Americans’ savings by pursuing green energy projects. One version tells people to call Senator Sinema to tell her to support the Braun/Barr CRA resolution. Another version tells people to call Sen. Tester. Team Stand for America comes in fifth place this week with search ads pointing to Nikki Haley’s donation page.
P2P
Industry Watch
Podcasts: Not as big as they once were, but still big. So how can campaigns be utilizing them to reach voters? It helps when you can use first-party data… According to Marketing Brew, Spotify, Sirius, iHeartMedia and Acast can all ingest first-party data in some capacity. Last cycle I found myself defending the use of contextual targeting a lot. I think there’s a tendency in politics to rely too much on first-party data when it comes to persuasion campaigns, which can leave voters on the table. That said, podcasts could be a good way to utilize BOTH as a way to reach voters with a specific message. Think about it.
Political Ads on Twitter: Come on, guys, Elon’s counting on us! Per Politico:
Nearly two months after Twitter announced it would resume allowing political advertising, the technology company, in response to a POLITICO inquiry, said this week that it had no paid political advertisers yet. …
“It’s been several years since political advertisers have used Twitter, so it’s not just in our muscle memory or our toolbox in the way that some other things would be,” said Eric Wilson, a Republican digital strategist and director of the Center for Campaign Innovation, which studies campaign practices. “And then there is a lot of uncertainty about Twitter and who is using it.”
The Grapevine
Yours truly was featured on the Business of Politics Show, talking about Republican digital campaign culture. You can listen here.
John Hall published his “Principles of Online Fundraising” on Medium. Take advantage and give it a read. Seriously.
National Public Affairs has brought on some new digital people: Ashton Brown as digital director, Quinn Gasaway as deputy digital director, Pat Wronkiewicz as senior account director, and Estelle Woloszyn as director of digital operations. Congrats, all!
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Tips for surviving spring allergies? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
This Campaigner piece about John Fetterman’s Slack operation made quite the splash this week. Why wouldn’t it? A campaign Slack channel with 9,000 volunteers? Have we EVER had anything like that on a GOP campaign? Don’t answer that.
Democrat campaign culture is just different, and there are lessons we can learn from it. For starters, just look at the title of the guy interviewed: Digital Organizing Director. We don’t have Digital Organizing Directors on the right, and I think we should. On top of fundraising and persuasion efforts, digital has morphed into being much more about organizing supporters and communities online; we embrace that shift or we get left behind, IMO.
P.S. I know this is par for the course (winners get ALL the credit no matter what), but every time I see a piece about how *awesome* John Fetterman’s digital strategy was, I want to claw my eyes out.
From the other side of the tracks:
It’s no secret that corporate brands have been leaning heavily into the influencer marketing trend. It seems to be working from them. Here’s some more insight from Digiday:
Marketers are looking to influencers for “creative ideation and thoughtful strategic direction” to make content that is “durable, lasting and impactful,” explained Zach Blume co-founder of the creative shop Portal A, who added it’s a move away from a more transactional model to one of a “deeper level of collaboration.”
“It’s because authenticity wins,” said Katy Tenerovich, director of social strategy for Carmichael Lynch. “These influencers know what resonates with their audience better than we do. They should be the ones leading the creative process, not following strict orders from brands and agencies.” Tenerovich added that the creative shop is also looking to hire a creator as a “social content designer.”
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading? Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!