Creatively...Challenged?
Doomscroll 3.19.23
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One Question
Ok, friends. I drone on a bit about websites in this edition, so this week’s One Question is more like One Survey about candidate websites. It’s very short, I promise.
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about the biggest challenge facing digital advertisers. One of you said “keeping up with the algorithms.” Another simply said “clients.” LMAO raise your hand if you can relate.
Who’s Doing What
--Give Me A Break
In a move that literally no one saw coming, former Congressman Adam Kinzinger is trying to cash in on his 15 minutes of anti-MAGA fame. You’ve probably already seen or heard about this, but if not, feast your eyes on the 6-minute-long “movie” titled “Break Free.” According to Politico, Kinzinger’s campaign around the video includes “TV, digital, billboard, and guerrilla marketing.” Ah, who doesn’t love a good guerrilla marketing campaign.
To me, the website breakfreenow.org is an ADHD lover’s dream (or nightmare? I’m not sure). It’s a mess, IMHO. No offense to whoever worked on it, but it’s not entirely clear what exactly I’m meant to do. Break free? Reject extremists? Donate? Sign up? Share my story? Give “creative input”? An explanation about why we should break free doesn’t come until the very bottom of the homepage and even then it doesn’t make much sense. There are so many forms and fields to fill out and a dizzying number of QR codes. Frankly, there’s just too much going on. Although, I did find solace in the fact that for only $60 I can secure my limited-edition Adam Kinzinger-signed baseball hat. Thank the Lord. Am I being too harsh? Perhaps this is a classic example of differences in taste and aesthetic. This website is not my jam, creatively. Maybe it is yours! Drop me a line and tell me why: itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com.
-- Happier Times
Let’s talk about a website that makes me much happier: JeffLandry.com. Friends, take notes. It’s clean. It’s fresh. The branding is superb. The candidate photos that were selected make Landry look relatable and down-to-earth. If I were to critique anything, it would be that the sign-up and donate forms are too far down the page. But until they start paying to drive traffic to the website, that’s small potatoes.
--Jackson(ville)
Ok, not really, but we are in spirit. The Jacksonville Mayor election is in full swing (Election Day is 3/21 and I’m disappointed in every single one of you who didn’t know that) and according to news reports, it’s the second most expensive election this spring behind the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. LeAnna Cumber and Daniel Davis are the top Republicans in the race (no, I’m ::gulp:: not going to pick apart their websites). I’ve also noted their attack ads against each other a few times in Doomscroll (Cumber’s a RINO and Davis is soft on crime). As of this writing, Cumber’s campaign has spent about $7,000 on Facebook ads in the previous seven days, while Davis’ PAC spent about $2,000. Davis is also running ads on pages titled “Liberal LeAnna Cumber '' and “Big Government Al Ferraro”. I love me some good Facebook oppo pages.
Anyway, some of Davis’ anti-Ferraro ads do stand out, like the one in which he blasts the guy for spending $2 million in taxpayer dollars on a duck pond. That stuck. Still, most of these ads aren’t exactly noteworthy in and of themselves, and normally I’d expect that in a mayoral race. But with this one being so expensive ($7.3 mil), I’m a bit surprised. At least Ferraro ran some stuff around early voting. Good for him. Still, it’s hard to totally suss out any kind of robust digital strategy being employed by these three heading into Election Day, which tells me that perhaps the bulk of the spending is going toward TV. Color me surprised. One day we will #breakfree from the TV chains of bondage.
Quick sidebar about creative: Local campaigns often ride the struggle bus when it comes to creative. Please don’t shoot the messenger. Perhaps they can’t afford to pay vendors who create good ads. Perhaps there is a lack of creative talent on the right. Perhaps it’s a combination of both: Money and manpower. It pains me, really. Behind online fundraising, I would posit that creative is the most pressing problem for Republican campaigns up and down the ballot.
--Rinse and Repeat
In case you didn’t know, it’s ok to resend the same email over and over again. It’s even Speaker-approved:
P.S. I’m actually being serious. You should totally do this- especially to people who didn’t open the message the first time.
Who’s Spending Where
Between March 9 -15, the top center-right spender on Facebook ads was The Daily Wire. The company spent around $226,000 on ads through the Jeremy’s Razors page to sell razors and yes, chocolate. Second place goes to Newsmax, which spent around $221,000. American Action Network spent $146,000 on ads this week asking people to tell “Biden and House liberals to leave Medicare Advantage alone.” Fourth and fifth place go to PragerU ($112,000) and The Daily Wire ($108,000).
Looks like Vivek 2024 is the top center-right spender on Google during this same time period, with search ads that lead to his website. American Action Network comes in second place with more ads targeting Dems on Medicare. A group called WMC issues Mobilization Council INC is spending heavily on an ad in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race attacking Janet Protasiewicz for letting violent criminals off with light sentencing. The Ron DeSantis-supporting Never Back Down PAC is in fourth place with search ads and the RSCL is in fifth place with search ads selling DeSantis’ new book (hhhmmm…).
P2P
Industry Watch
Social media convos are moving from newsfeeds and timelines to direct messaging. Read more about the trend here. As campaigns put together their social media strategies in 2023 and beyond, it’s important to remember that digital is all about going where the people are. That includes rallying activists on Slack and creating groups in messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal and yes, Facebook Messenger. Maybe that means having a staffer who regularly responds to DM’s. Maybe that means employing chatbots on your website or Facebook page. On Facebook, you can run click-to-messenger ad campaigns, which is a good first step. I did this with some success in 2022 (slide into my DM’s if you want the deets). Regardless, let’s get to messaging!
RivalIQ has put out its 2023 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report. My awesome takeaway is that organic engagement is down for everyone - not just politics! Yay!
The Grapevine
Zilch. Got nothing this week for The Grapevine. 😭😭😭 But I KNOW a ton of you are going to the Reed Awards in Vegas so do me proud and report back. Who knows - maybe this time next year we’ll be doing a Doomscroll Happy Hour at the Reed’s to toast politics’ best and brightest.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Hangover cure? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Last week, California Senate candidate Katie Porter was fundraising off her recipe for black bean soup. This week, her primary opponent Adam Schiff is fundraising off the Green New Deal. Frankly, I liked the soup thing better.
From the other side of the tracks:
Even Panera Bread is going after GenZ on TikTok. Per Digiday:
Panera Bread wants to engage and attract millennials and Gen Z audiences with creators on TikTok, where many of those cohorts are already spending most of their time.
…
“Our specific paid media investment strategy follows our guests’ viewing habits to maximize reach and attention,” said Martin. “Panera’s audience are spending more time on TikTok, so we are shifting more dollars to this platform and we continually evaluate our mix as we stay in tune with our audience.”
Martin declined to say how much Panera Bread has spent on working with creators. According to Pathmatics by Sensor Tower data, the brand spent a little over $8 million so far on advertising in 2023 and over $65 million in 2022. The data also showed that $6.7 million was spent on paid media TikTok in 2022 and a little under $100,000 so far in 2023.
Looks like Corporate America is doing whatever it has to - including creating a handbag that looks like a baguette - to attract the youths these days. But what happens to all these advertising dollars if/when the federal government pulls the plug on TikTok?
P.S. to all of you in DC: if you see an influencer in the wild over the next several days, this is why.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!