Here for the Money
Doomscroll 9.10.23
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One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered my One Question last week about the P2P section of Doomscroll! Out of everyone who responded…drumroll…75% of you said you like the screenshots. While I wouldn’t call that an overwhelming endorsement, it ain’t low enough for me to make any significant changes at this point! :) Thank you, friends, for not giving me more work to do. One nice reader suggested I call out my favorite message and provide some commentary on it and that - I can do!
This week’s One Question is big picture, so get ready. We’ve talked a lot this year about the need to rethink how we approach online fundraising. In the wake of a disappointing 2022 and an overall sentiment that the Trump Train sucked up a lot of the low-dollar oxygen, it seemed like Republican digital operatives were ready for a shift in strategy. Basically: be nice to voters when you’re hitting them up for $20. So now that we’re well into September, I think it’s time for a group check-in: How we doin? Have you all noticed any significant change(s) in how our side goes after small dollar and if so, is it working?
Who’s Doing What
--The Mike in Michigan
Mike Rogers is officially running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, and I have to say: his announcement video is ::chef’s kiss:: excellent. Really. I really, really like it. I like how much he’s on screen. I like the light-hearted touches (see the 52-second mark). I like his core message - that politicians are failing to address serious problems - because it’s easy to understand and he delivers it well. Stylistically, it wins on that front as well, IMO. I like big, bold sans serif fonts. I don’t know how made this video, but I’d like to buy them a coffee. Unfortunately, his website is less thrilling. Huge letdown after watching the video on Twitter (Is that…drop shadow????). Sigh. You win some, you lose some.
--Lyin’ Presley
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is out with a new-ish ad in the skirmish between him and Democrat opponent Brandon Presley over who believes what when it comes to gender reassignment surgeries for kids. Watch it here, and be prepared to get a master class in how to a) tie your Democrat opponent to a sticky social issue, b) also tie him to Joe Biden, and c) also accuse him of being a liar. It’s called killing three birds with one stone, my friends, and it’s every campaign’s dream. Seriously, this is a great ad - and yes, I’m saying that as someone who assumes neither Biden nor sex changes for kids sit well with the voters of Mississippi.
--Mitch Bucks
One thing is for sure: Mitch McConnell’s money machine ain’t frozen (sorry - had to!) Two groups affiliated with the Minority Leader raked in the dough last month. The Senate Leadership Fund and One Nation (a public advocacy group) raised a combined total of $49.36 million - a record for an August in a non-election year, according to Fox News. Not too shabby. The road to a GOP majority in the Senate in 2024 appears green and healthy. Bless.
2024 Roundup
The DeSantis War Room poked some fun at the Trump War Room on Twitter… See it here.
Ad spending just eclipsed $100 million. Read more about it here.
Vivek Ramaswamy apparently jumped the gun in announcing a CNN town hall. Read about it here.
Nikki Haley is running some fundraising ads on Twitter, and is very much leaning into some recent polls that show her gaining momentum. See one tweet here.
Chris Christie went on the attack against Ron DeSantis for not meeting with Joe Biden while the president visited Florida post-hurricane. See it here.
Never Back Down PAC targeted the Iowa State-University of Iowa football game on Saturday with an ad attacking Trump on transgender issues. Watch it here.
Speaking of Never Back Down, Politico Magazine ran a long piece this week about the PAC’s claim to have “cracked the code” when it comes to reaching voters. Read it here. The whole thing is worth a read, if for no other reason than I find this fascinating:
Broadcast television ads were the most persuasive mode tested, with the average voter exposed to them six-and-a-half percentage points more likely to support DeSantis as a result. But it was possible to replicate much of that impact by sending the ads directly to a prospective voter’s phone. Receiving a sequence of text messages over the course of two weeks made the average voter about three-and-a-half points more likely to support DeSantis; bombarding an individual with 10 had appreciably more impact than five. “The key finding,” Wilson and Maguire said when presenting the experiments to super PAC leadership and donors, “is the value of text as a substitute for broadcast where broadcast is infeasible.
Fave It
It’s been a hot minute since we’ve featured a FAVE tweet in Doomscroll! This time, all thanks go to Ian Patrick Hines.
Who’s Spending Where
From August 31 - September 6, the top Republican spender on Facebook ads was Americans for Prosperity with $121,459 - pretty much all on ads about how awesome AFP is. AFP Action came in second place with about $102,000 in spend on ads attacking Trump. Proud Patriots spent $75,000 on ads slinging Trump merch and a page called Liberty Protector (groan) spent $74,000 on a whole host of ads attacking Biden, Democrats at large, and defending Trump. Fifth place goes to a page called I Love My Freedom, which spent $56,000 on ads selling merch.
One of these days I’m going to do a deep dive into all these random pages.
During that same time period, AFP Action was the top spender on Google, with $115,000 on those ads attacking Trump for being unelectable in a general election. Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee came in a distant second with about $73,000 in ad spend. SFA Inc. spent $34,000, while Trust in the Mission PAC spent $28,000.
P2P
I would say my favorite text this week is any text that identifies the sender in the message. xoxo
Industry Watch
Google decided to pop the AI disclosure cherry this week by becoming the first tech company to say it would require advertisers to label AI and synthetic content in ads. Must feel nice! Politico has a nice breakdown of what this means for us practically:
Google’s latest rule update — which also applies to YouTube video ads — requires all verified advertisers to prominently disclose whether their ads contain “synthetic content that inauthentically depicts real or realistic-looking people or events.” The company mandates the disclosure be “clear and conspicuous” on the video, image or audio content. Such disclosure language could be “this video content was synthetically generated,” or “this audio was computer generated,” the company said.
Speaking of AI, campaign lawyers (bless) are also becoming nervous nellies over AI in politics - and they should be! Look, I have worked with some amazing lawyers in my career and I’ll be damned if I didn’t give every single one of them a near panic attack on a weekly basis from like, Memorial Day to Election Day. You know that old Ronald Reagan quote where he says the “nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help”? Swap “government” for “digital department” and I’m pretty sure that same line could be said by any campaign lawyer. So basically what I’m saying is this: let’s be smart and kind to our attorneys! They keep us out of jail.
The Grapevine
Eric Wilson is doing a LIVE recording of his Business of Politics show at the Capitol Hill Club in DC on Tuesday. RSVP here.
Powers Interactive is also hosting an event this week on September 14 to discuss everything you always wanted to know about SPO but were afraid to ask. RSVP to it here.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Fav tailgate recipe? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Kinda love this fundraising ad from John Fetterman. Humor + $$ ask = winning combo.
From the other side of the tracks:
I leave you, this week, with a nice round-up of how advertisers are leaning into the return of football. Who doesn’t love [college] football season? There’s all kinds of ways campaigns and political groups can lean into sports…Just some food for thought!
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!