How The Right Won In Europe With Digital
Doomscroll 6.16.2024
Good luck with Sunday Scaries! Here’s another Doomscroll to get your week started right.
For those of you who missed last week’s Doomscroll, I’m Andrew, and I’m covering this week for Amanda while she’s out enjoying some leave with her new baby. I’ve been around the block on digital, and worked with Amanda at RGA for the 17/18 cycle. Since then, I’ve done work for committees and 2 presidential campaigns.
If you want to stay in touch, drop me an email (andrewwilliammullins@gmail.com) or bum rush my LinkedIn DMs.
Let’s get on with it!
One Question
ICYMI - I ranted on ads in last week’s Doomscroll. Specifically how I think there’s an insane amount of waste happening in the political ad space that we need to mitigate ASAP.
I asked you which ad platforms are doing it right! And we got a BUNCH of interesting responses. Shoutout to the actual vendors that read this newsletter and responded to this survey lol:
X
Causal IQ has been fantastic!
StackAdapt & The TradeDesk are the two DSPs that are the most invested in political & the most engaged in our industry. This means stronger, more trustworthy relationships from the employees at the DSPs through the agencies all the way to the stakeholders at the end client. It also shows in the products and innovations they have built specifically for political.
No one seems to be doing it right…
Ad tech is a slimy industry. I am constantly road blocking bad platforms with hidden mark ups from getting in the door with partners at our agency.
Managed Service providers are NEVER a good deal. Might be easier for the campaign/PAC but it is far from efficient...
And finally:
Be wary of trusting your ad dollars to DSPs that are built on top of a specific publisher or inventory source.
This last response is really interesting to me, and touches on an interesting debate in the programmatic space that is worth talking about. So basically there’s two schools of thought in picking the right DSP (for those who don’t know, a DSP is a tech platform that ads folk use to buy stuff like display ads, OTT ads, etc…):
The first school of thought: Using an independent DSP (Like StackAdapt, TTD, Viant, Moloco, or Basis - none of these own an exchange, publisher etc, etc…) is the best way to buy because you’re being inventory-agnostic and running ads on all publishers, regardless of pre-existing business relationship.
The second school of thought: Using a DSP tied to an exchange/publisher (Roku, Samsung, DV360, Nexxen, Vizio, Yahoo, etc..) is the best way to buy because you’re able to get better rates on the exchanges you want to buy on. For example, these DSPs could make a case that you’ll buy Google much more efficiently though Google’s DSP vs. buying Google through Amazon DSP.
There’s a lot of merit to both arguments honestly. I think the 2nd argument is interesting if you’re scaling to a point that you’re executing exchange/publisher-specific bidding strategies. You can save a lot of money going this route. (not everyone is scaling to this level)
But the 1st argument can result in a lot less drama if you’re short-staffed and scaling on big accounts. Take my word for it, it’s way easier to use one DSP than 5….
TLDR: Take time to know the space - getting into this programmatic stuff is like peeling back an onion.
For this week’s one question, I’m finally ditching ads.
I’ve heard from a few industry insiders in the past week about a frustrating trend in the P2P space: That P2P is still getting exploited and used & abused by bad actors - which is resulting in oversaturation.
From one insider:
The email list rental/revv share market got exploited or abused in '22. Everyone was sending for anyone and in doing so hurt the market. People started being more selective.
And now this year we are seeing the same thing with P2P.
…but the overall issue is burning the donor out. Lately everyone has heard the donor fatigue with people receiving 25 texts.
So these bad actors aren’t seeing the long term burn out, like we saw with ads and email.
But here’s the flip-side: P2P costs a fortune to send to. “Bad actors” wouldn’t blow up phones if they weren’t making money off of it. Eventually this audience will tap out, but it hasn’t yet.
So what’s next? If and when P2P is burning out, what new platforms and ideas are the next “big channel” for fundraising? Two ideas that immediately come to mind for me are influencer marketing and affiliate marketing.
Who’s Doing What
—How The Right Used TikTok to Win In Europe
Amanda’s out, so I’m going to take advantage of the chance to needle her by talking about my favorite topic: TikTok.
According to this FASCINATING Politico piece, the right in Europe (or as they say 33 times in this article, “far right” lol) is gaming TikTok’s algorithm, and their content is actually really engaging.
Betting on their ability to outsmart the algorithm, the far right is adapting its political message to woo the TikTok generation. Around Europe, the social media platform has become populist leaders’ experimental lab during elections, sharing bombastic TV appearances and fiery speeches framed by bright backgrounds and emojis while attacking migrants, Islam and climate change.
France’s far right, in particular, has often disguised political messages via innocuous social media posts about personal growth, according to Romain Fargier, the researcher. “They don't talk about politics, but about identity, criticize women's hypergamy, encourage bodybuilding, financial development and so on … This can have an effect on teenagers in the making,” he said. Read more >>
I think this is really interesting on the heels of news that Trump is both on TikTok and on the heels of a NYT/Siena poll that Biden has only a 2-point lead over Trump among voters aged 18-29.
I think this is a fascinating narrative that’s taking shape, and we could be talking about this over drinks in December…
—Team Trump’s Lit Copywriting
I’m loving the copywriting I’m seeing right now. It’s all a game of getting people to look twice at a text, and this one worked.
Which speaking of, this email from “I AM DONALD J. TRUMP” hit my inbox, and wowwwwww. Whoever wrote this email, I would love to know what you tapped into to get here.
—Spotify Is Cracking Down On Political Speech
So it looks like Spotify is taking a chapter from Old Twitter (literally) and hiring a bloated misinformation team to start censoring speech on their platform…
[The] approach includes Platform Rules prohibiting content that “attempts to manipulate or interfere with election-related processes.” The rules of engagement, of course, vary from country to country, so Jenkins says Spotify won’t be offering a one-size-fits-all content suppression effort. Teams will conduct individual risk assessments considering various “indicators,” including the service’s “availability and specific product offerings in a country, historical precedents for online and offline harm during voting periods, and emerging geopolitical factors that may increase on-platform risks.” Read More >>>
—NRCC’s Selling “Jumpsuit Orange” Shirts
This was eye-catching. The NRCC is now slinging “Jumpsuit Orange” T-shirts, that take advantage of the Hunter Biden newscycle.
I love merch that really capitalizes on current events and spits fire like this. This is also the 2nd week in a row that NRCC has gotten a digital shoutout from Doomscroll… Bravo, guys. Get yours here >
2024 Roundup
This is where I make note of a few other things that caught my eye this week.
Ohio’s Special Election Turnout was the smallest so far this cycle…
No one really likes Kamala Harris. Only 33% of voters think Harris would actually win a presidential election…
Weird news: The Supreme Court ruled that you can’t trademark the right to sell merch that mocks Trump.
2 things caught my eye in Virginia: 1) Donald Trump and Glenn Youngkin met and got a photo together (VP??) 2) Another poll came out showing Virgina in an effective tossup for the 2024 presidential.
Good luck to everyone in working Georgia, Oklahoma, and Virginia primaries on June 18th!
Robert F. Kennedy wished Trump a Happy Birthday. I actually think this was a really classy move and somewhat refreshing.
Who’s Spending Where
Amanda’s Out, so I get to play around with changing up the format this week.
Meta
Meta is having a rough cycle by all appearances. According to Andrew Arenge, 2024 political spend on Meta is officially behind where it was in 2022… Not good for them during a presidential year.
Last week, Trump beat Biden on Google spend, but this past week, Biden Victory Fund + Biden for President significantly outspent Trump National Committee (Biden’s funds, combined, spent around $1.2M).
X Honorable Mention
Guys, I got my hands on a TROVE of excellent X ads this past week. You’re welcome. And if you made this list, PROPS.
I’ve been spending A LOT of time focusing on X ads over the last few months, and these ads were fantastic because they take advantage of what it takes to make a user stop scrolling and click on your ad.
Fauci’s Kitten Lab - White Coat Waste
GOTV Absentee Ballot Ad - The Sentinel Action Fund
Merch/Tactical Gear Giveaway - USCCA
THIS VIDEO WAS CENSORED ON FACEBOOK - Team Trump
Chuck Schumer Thinks We’re Gonna Win Texas - Ted Cruz for Senate
Bonus Thoughts
Andrew Arange (who is a GREAT X follow) released this list on “who is spending where” for the presidential. Very interesting and informative.
Industry Watch
X Is Making Likes Private
Per their post:
This week we’re making Likes private for everyone to better protect your privacy.
– You will still be able to see posts you have liked (but others cannot).
– Like count and other metrics for your own posts will still show up under notifications.
– You will no longer see who liked someone else’s post.
– A post’s author can see who liked its posts.
Good move. I think the oppo shops will be the only people who really really hate this.
Do You Remember Moat?
Oracle is officially shutting their ads business, including brand safety tool Moat! Lots of political advertisers used to use Moat… but their product has fallen off over the years. There’s lots of other Oracle brands many of us have used… Bluekai, Grapeshot, Datalogix. Read More here>
Local News Is Changing
Fascinating writeup from Axios on the proliferation of partisan-backed newsrooms. AI & data scraping are centralizing local news publishing, which is transforming the industry. Is this bad? I have no idea. But I think it’s interesting.
Per Axios:
The number of partisan-backed outlets designed to look like impartial news outlets has officially surpassed the number of real, local daily newspapers in the U.S., according to a new analysis.
There are least 1,265 websites identified as being backed by dark money or are intentionally masquerading as local news sites for political purposes, according to a new report from NewsGuard, a misinformation tracking company.
🔴 The vast majority of the sites observed are backed by Metric Media, a conservative network traced backed to media entrepreneur Brian Timpone, who has links to conservative donors.
🔵 Some of the more strategic sites are run by groups that are more much explicit about their funding and motives, such as Courier Newsroom and States Newsroom.
The Grapevine
Facebook users are shifting from consuming “political content” to consuming “Hollywood Gossip”. Read More >
According to LG, 49% of people “Do Not Care” if an ad was made using AI. Read More >
Direct Persuasion CEO Daria Grastara was on Eric Wilson’s Business of Politics Podcast, and it was a fascinating listen about what it’s like to run a digital shop in 2024. Give it a listen>
Convergence is hiring for a Client Strategy Manager, Campaign HQ is hiring for an Operations Coordinator, Direct Persuasion is hiring a Junior Analyst, and IMGE is hiring for a graphic designer and marketing strategist.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
The Biden Campaign spent nearly $250K on ads this past week from a page titled “The Daily Scroll”. Surprisingly, there hasn’t really been a ton of news coverage about The Daily Scroll, but I think it’s newsworthy.
Basically it looks like “Biden for President” is using The Daily Scroll to amplify Trump-positive articles on Meta to swing voters. By naming their page “The Daily Scroll” and promoting articles from “mainstream” failing-liberal-media-mainstream-fake-news outlets like Yahoo, CNN, or the New York Times, the campaign is trying to run a sneaky page that has appearance of neutrality.
Sneaky move. It kind of reminds me of a “mainstream media” application of the partisan local-news phenom where political-backed high-volume local news publications like Metric Media and Courier Newsroom are targeting swing states. Except the Biden campaign knows that they don’t need to rely on tiny partisan-backed news websites because they’re already backed by the entire mainstream media.]
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!