🤖 I Used AI to Write this Subject Line (jk)
Doomscroll 5.7.23
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One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about the Biden re-election campaign’s digital rollout! 47% of you said you were not impressed by the digital rollout - “not even a little bit.” LMAO, maybe if you were a Vox reporter on the meme beat you would be more impressed, but I guess not all of you are that enlightened.
41% of you said “yes - and Republicans need to step it up,” while the rest of you said “yes, and Republicans’ have been just as good.” I find it interesting that almost the same number of respondents said they were either not impressed or impressed and our side needs to step it up. I mean, call Biden whatever you want, but his campaign spent $1 million on digital ads last week. I, for one, am in the camp that says when you’re outspent a bazillion to one you’re probably gonna lose.
Some of the other thoughts you all submitted:
The revv share/list swap wasnt as strong as i thought. Tester seemed better
Honestly looks really strong and I’m sad that no one on our side seems to be invested in confronting reality
Thought the handwriting weaved in throughout the creatives was a nice touch
The digital launch was great, complete with meme-worthy merch. (I am obsessed w Trump and love him), but contrast Biden's launch to Trump's snoozefest 2024 launch last fall. Trump's was rushed, poorly-timed, and sleepy in comparison.
Not impressed but Republicans have to go hard on digital. A tailored targeted approach to different voter groups as well as a well thought out overall message in digital and mailers. We can and should always do better!!!! Our message is better and more Americans connect with our values if we can find a way to get that message out.
Ok, so this week’s One Question is a little more personal and it’s very important, guys, ok? I almost hate to ask it, but…[gulp] should Doomscroll be on Twitter? Would you follow? Part of me wants to claw my eyes out and replace them with sandpaper at the idea of running another Twitter account. Yet part of me gets antsy waiting until Sunday evening every week to share my digital hot takes, if you know what I mean. So, let me know!
Who’s Doing What
--More Fees for You!
The New York Times has reported that WinRed honcho Gerritt Lansing is going around town spilling some harsh realities to party leaders: Fees gotta go up. The story is behind a paywall, of course, but you can read reporter Shane Goldmacher’s twitter thread on it here, which is a pretty good summary. Apparently, the fee hikes have been put on ice, but the convos are leaving many asking the same question: why is WinRed struggling when it, as Goldmacher puts it, has a “virtual monopoly on processing every Republican contribution online”? If this happens, it’ll affect all of us. I have no secret or special insights into the world of WinRed, but my guess is the company scaled dramatically leading up to the 2022 midterms, not predicting how incredibly disappointing the cycle would end up being for online fundraising (to be fair, they weren’t alone). It’s not that shocking WinRed would find itself in some sort of financial murkiness in 2023. Even ActBlue laid off 17% of its workforce. Let’s just hope - for all our sakes - that WinRed avoids THAT.
--Unity is Overrated - Or is it?
A group called Constitutional Rights PAC is heavily promoting the idea of a Donald Trump - Ron DeSantis unity ticket in 2024. Their website, RonDon.us features a petition pushing the idea. They even promise an official @donron.com email address to anyone who donates, which is an interesting tactic. Not sure how that works. They don’t appear to be running any digital ads at the moment, but they do have a decent Facebook page following (47K) and the content is pretty hardcore. They’re really into telling people to dump Fox News over the Tucker Carlson firing, for example. Look, I’m not rooting for this, and I’m not sure there’s a huge constituency for the idea, either. Still, it’ll be interesting to see if this group puts any serious money behind ginning up support for a Trump-DeSantis ticket. Weirder things HAVE happened.
--Is He Or Isn’t He?
Ah, the age-old question: Is he or isn’t he running for president? With most people, it’s pretty obvious. With former GOP Rep. Will Hurd? Not so much. He’s running digital ads that make it seem like he’s gearing up for something, but what’s his angle? What’s his constituency? If anyone has any insight, please let me know. Anyway, one of his ads about gun rights got my attention. It’s a quick vertical video that highlights how he flipped on gun control. He actually uses the word “flips,” which last time I checked, had a negative connotation in the political messaging world. He’s literally calling himself a flip-flopper and I don’t know how that sells with GOP primary voters. The ad is being shown to viewers in Texas, California, Utah, Nevada, Minnesota, Iowa, and a handful of others in the northeast and southeast. It’s all very strange. Will Hurd - you are a mystery to me.
--AI is Having a Moment
You and I both know it. This week, GOP texting company RumbleUp rolled out AI Assist - a new feature that will generate copy for you when that always-disastrous writer’s block hits. No, this isn’t a sponsored mention and yes, I’m married to someone who works at RumbleUp. THAT SAID, it seems like AI is literally everywhere these days and tech companies are tripping over themselves trying to get features like this to market as the next cycle heats up. I mean that in the nicest way possible, by the way. Tech companies SHOULD be morphing with the times. Anyway, you can read their blog post about it here, or this handy little Q & A that I convinced their VP of Messaging Operations, Amanda Pope, to do for us.
In simple, layman's terms: what is AI Assist?
It is a tool that drafts text messages for you based on prompts you provide. You can also choose from a variety of use cases (i.e. "fundraising") and tones of voice ("i.e. urgent"), pick your favorite starting point from a variety of drafts, and then use the best message as a starting point for your final draft. Currently the messages are written by ChatGPT but we have flexibility down the road to swap in other AI resources if we find a better solution.What drove RumbleUp to build this feature? Were you getting requests for something like this from campaigns and organizations?
We're always looking for ways to make it easier for our clients to send great texts. One of the reasons that campaigns/organizations tell us that they don't text is that they don't know what to say. With the advent of chatGPT, we were excited to see a tool that we could harness to help get our clients over that hurdle and feel more confident about the texts they send.Any pointers campaigns should keep in mind when giving AI assist writing prompts?
The more you use it, the better you will be at prompting it. We haven't eliminated the human component to texting, we've just made it much easier to brainstorm and overcome writer's block - and help clients who are on a tight deadline!A lot of the conversation around using AI in politics centers around the downsides of it. Is there anything campaigns should be worried about when it comes to leaning on AI Assist for its copy?
It is important to fact check. While AI Assist is a powerful tool, you should always check the facts. Clients are ultimately responsible for what they choose to send.Anything else we should know?
Yes! We're building this tool to be useful in the real world for real use cases, so we'll be listening carefully to feedback from clients for how we can improve it as we go. It's exciting to beginning down this new road in campaign technology.
--Sorry, Mark
…But you’re going to have to talk about abortion whether you want to or not. That was a dumb thing to say, and it took all of .5 seconds for the North Carolina Democratic Party to pounce. I know Robinson has a complicated history with abortion, but if I were advising him on his digital strategy I’d look him straight in the eyes and say: it doesn’t matter. Heck, I’d say that to any Republican candidate this cycle. As a party, we have to figure out how to message on abortion or we’ll keep losing the issue. An effective digital strategy could go a long way here, and I’m keeping my eyes open for anyone who does it well.
—May the Fourth
This got SO much hate online, but whatever, I kinda liked it so I’m linking it! #notashamed
Fave It
I’m adding a new section this week called “I’ll fave it,” and I’d like to thank Kendall Roy for the inspo. Here’s the thing: ya’ll are on Twitter and you have interesting thoughts (most of the time,) and sometimes I want to call them out - in a nice way! So watch out; I may slide into your DM’s in the near future to give you a heads-up that a) I may use a tweet of yours and/or b) I would love for you to expand for Doomscoll readers. (Share the love, and all that). First up: National Public Affairs’ Mike Hahn on influencers.
Thanks, Mike!
Who’s Spending Where
From April 27 - May 3, Newsmax was the top center-right spender on Facebook ads, with about $268,000. The Daily Wire came in second with about $117,000 in spend. I’m putting Sound of Freedom in third place, with its $110,000 in ad spend. I have no idea what this movie is or if it’s actually a conservative thing, but it LOOKS like it is, ya know? Something about a former Marine who devotes his life to saving children? Sounds pretty rightwing to me. Fourth and fifth place go to FIRE ($92,417) and American for Prosperity ($44,284).
American Action Network was the top spender on Google ads, with a 30-second spot attacking Democrats on the debt ceiling. RGA-affiliated State Solutions Inc came in second with its anti-Andy Beshear ad in the Lexington and Charleston-Huntington DMAs. Vivek 2024 is in third place, followed by Never Back Down PAC. Rounding out the top five is Prager University Foundation with a 5 1/2 minute (!!) video about school choice.
P2P
Industry Watch
Speaking of AI…The AAPC no likey. On Wednesday, the AAPC released a statement condemning the use of “deceptive generative AI content in political campaigns.” So…not all AI is condemned right? Just “deep fake” stuff? And I assume this announcement had nothing to do with the video the RNC put out last week? Just checking.
The Grapevine
Texting company Tatango has laid off a bunch of its staff, apparently - most notably from the political team. Bummer.
Mediaite is reporting that Vivek Ramaswamy paid to have someone edit his Wikipedia page. Who knows if this is true, but it’s so dumb. He should have known it’d get out. Seriously so dumb. Vivek - I gave you some love on your May the 4th video and then you had to go do this! Tsk tsk.
According to my good old friend The Rumor Mill, GOP consultant Austin Chambers has joined Something Else Strategies and is ::checks notes:: working on Tim Scott “stuff”.
Kate Holliday and Jordan Lieberman of Powers Interactive have a guest column in Ad Exchanger titled “Why Hasn’t SPO Taken Off with Politics and Public Affairs (Yet?)” Read it here.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Fav margarita mix? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Former Obama advisor Dan Pfeiffer is trying to reclaim “freedom” as a progressive value and I, for one, am not having it. Who’s with me? Here’s Pfeiffer:
I am referring to cultural values like — patriotism, hard work, and freedom, which polls show have traditionally been more associated with the Republican Party. This cultural skepticism is one reason that Democrats struggle to connect with voters who agree with them on the vast majority of issues. This is why we must treat our policies as proof points of our values and not final objectives. They are a way to show voters who we are and what we represent.
If Democrats want to build a broad-based, diverse governing coalition, we need to re-appropriate cultural values.
He then veers into talking about abortion and the Dobbs decision, as all Democrats are prone to do these days. Because nothing says “I’m a patriotic, hard-working American” like advocating for late-term abortion. I hope candidates on our side of the aisle are capable of clapping back to this kind of nonsense. If this is gonna be part of the Dems’ messaging/digital strategy heading into 2024, we better be ready!
From the other side of the tracks:
Why does this matter? Because if you’re able to pin an idea on something fans are already talking about, the chance that it will fly in the conversationally powered spaces of social media platforms is vastly increased. And that’s important because getting consumers talking on social is how you make or break a modern brand. Pringles have taken that deep understanding of fans a step further and put the social conversational insight right at the heart of an above-the-line execution. That, to me, is a sign of a brand that knows how to engage their audience.
If you’re not reading Twitter replies and comments on Facebook, Instagram, etc, you’re missing a huge piece of research that could come in handy!
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!