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Doomscroll 9.3.23
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One Question
And we’re back! Thanks to you all for putting up with a Doomscroll-less Sunday last weekend. Apologies, apologies, but I was in sunny New Mexico UFO-hunting and getting into all kinds of trouble. I kid, I kid (or do I?). Here’s what I will say: it makes perfect sense that the aliens picked a desert region to visit - and not the dishwasher that is the southeastern United States.
Anyway…Thanks to everyone who answered the One Question from two weeks ago about whether Republicans should be on Snapchat! A solid ⅔ of you said heck no. And with that, I can now breathe a huge sigh of relief knowing most of us are on the same page: Snapchat can just GTFO.
One brave soul DID argue in favor of GOPers getting on Snapchat, and I do sympathize with the argument:
If we ignore a platform then we ignore a voting block ... and we're already ignoring too large of a voting block. Get off your high horse and start reaching out.
And here’s a more nuanced take that I appreciate as well:
In what scenario are we considering? Committees, presidential, senate, municipal races, etc. The smaller the race, the smaller the resources/time. So I would stress most races to build your operation to targeted voters. Do most red districts have a Snapchat demo? I doubt it, but if that changes then maybe take note. That same rule is true for all platforms though. However, campaign resources are just so strained that I don’t currently see the return on investment.
One funny side note: a loyal reader messaged me last week about my One Question to say that he heard that back on the campaign trail in 2016, Bernie Sanders kept calling Snapchat “Slap Shot.” LMAO. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I really hope it is. And if someone can make a new app called SlapShot, I’ll be among the first adopters. Kthx.
This week’s One Question is more…reader feedback-focused. I’ve heard from a few brave souls that the screenshots of the P2P texts under the “Who’s Spending Where” section are not helpful. I take no offense to this, but want to know if most of you agree? If there’s a single piece of this newsletter that is NOT helpful then I want to either slay it or find a way to save it. My goal with that section was simple: provide a look at what we’re all doing on the P2P/SMS texting front. I don’t know about you, but a) I get ideas from seeing what other people are doing, and b) it’s just interesting to see who’s spending money on texting! Anyway, let me know what you think.
Who’s Doing What
--Give it up for Sam Brown
All the points for creativity here! I immediately opened this email because a) it looked like a real calendar invite and b) let’s be honest: Sam Brown is a generic-enough name that when I saw it, I was like “maybe I DO know a Sam Brown??????” Kudos to his team. I wish I could see the stats on that email!
I also want to give him some props this week for the engaging social media content. I’m a big fan of asking questions, posting polls - anything to get your audience engaged on social media. But what comes next is key, my friends: it’s called the follow-through. You can’t just ask a question, get responses, and then ignore them. You have to follow up and report back. Good job, captain!
--Tuck, Unhinged
I know I have some very nice Tucker fans here, but…is it just me or is he getting a little…unhinged? I ask that in the nicest possible way mind you, as someone who just watched him claim that the left is going to very soon attempt to assassinate Donald Trump. He makes his case so passionately it’s hard not to nod along. I get it. But let’s remember the internet is great at, if nothing else, spreading doomsday warnings. It’s no wonder his content is doing well; it all follows the same pattern: America is doomed. Rinse, Spit, Repeat. His stuff is literally made for doomscrolling.
--A Holy Alliance
You know what else caught my eye this week? That the Alliance Defending Freedom is doing partnership ads on Facebook with The Babylon Bee. This is something I haven’t really explored yet myself and I haven’t seen it much (if at all?) in the political ad space on Facebook. That said, I definitely think they’re worth exploring. They’re all donation ads (smart) on a range of topics: help defend the Colorado baker Jack Phillips, help defend women’s sports, and defend the right of Christians to adopt. The Babylon Bee is huge, so yeah…I’d say this was a good call!
--The Doctor is IN
Is. Rep. Ronny Jackson turning into a fundraising juggernaut? Looks like it. Breitbart had a nice write-up recently:
Jackson, in the second quarter, raised north of a million dollars—more than any other GOP U.S. House member in Texas—and for the whole first half of 2023 the Texas conservative was the number one online fundraiser of any House GOP member not in leadership.
BOOM. I mean…that’s impressive. The piece also notes his online fundraising vendor is National Public Affairs, which doesn’t surprise me in the least. Those folks know how to raise money! Hats off.
2024 Roundup
Tell It Like It Is PAC released a new ad hitting Trump on his indictments. Watch it here.
Best of America PAC released a new ad hyping Gov. Doug Burgum’s candidacy. Watch it here.
Miami Mayor Frances Suarez dropped out of the race. It was fun while it lasted!
Vivek Ramaswamy leaned into a video that popped up of him as a young lad asking Al Sharpton why he should vote for him over other more experienced Democrats.
Politico reported that Mike Pence got a nice fundraising bump after the debate. Read about it here.
Politico ALSO reported on an interested text-for-pay strategy used by Team Asa Hutchinson to get him into the debate. Read it here.
And Donald Trump is selling a bunch of mug shot merch. Get yours here.
Nikki Haley is going after the youths of America. Read about it here.
Who’s Spending Where
From August 24 - 30, a page called Proud Patriots was the top conservative spender on Facebook ads, spending more than $200,000 to sling a bunch of pro-Trump merch. Americans for Prosperity came in second place with $110,000 in ad spend, while a page called I Love My Freedom spent about $91,000 on ads selling…you guessed it…Trump merch. Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee spent around $90,000, putting them in fourth place this week, while AFP Action came in fifth with $89,000 in spend on some…interesting anti-Trump ads.
On Google during that same time period, Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee was by far, the top spender on ads. Vivek 2024 came in second place with $80,000 in spend, while AFP Action spent about $70,000. Rounding out the top five are SFA Inc ($64,000) and Trust in the Mission PAC ($55,000).
P2P
Industry Watch
Didn’t Twitter announce a while ago that it was going to start running political ads again? Or did I dream that.
Regardless, the company announced the change *again* this week. Of course, all political ads will be subject to certain policies, which will “include prohibiting the promotion of false or misleading content…”
If you guys get the CampaignTech newsletter from Campaigns & Elections…you might have seen your Doomscroller (hi!) share her thoughts about political ads in Twitter. ;)
The Grapevine
Got another Q&A for you, folks! Honestly, this is probs going to go down as one of my favs. If you don’t know Kate Holliday or Powers Interactive - you are missing out! She and her co-conspirator, Jordan Lieberman, were recently on The Business of Politics Show (listen here) and when the convo veered toward ad fraud, I was like “AD FRAUD! GAH!”
We NEVER talk about it, and today we’re changing that, thanks to Kate being awesome and basically giving into my begging her to do this interview.
Ok so what is ad fraud and how big of a problem is it?
Ad fraud is and has been the giant elephant in the room for digital advertising since its inception. It’s the practice of inflating the number of impressions or clicks on an ad to generate revenue. In other words, ad fraud is when a bad actor tries to trick an advertiser into paying for an ad that was not actually seen or clicked on via bots, click farms, ad stacking or domain spoofing.
Why is this a problem? Follow the money. It’s estimated $377 million dollars were lost to ad fraud in the 2020 election, according to a study by the University of Baltimore and CHEQ, an anti-fraud/cyber security company. The study found that 13% of all digital political ad spending that cycle was lost to fraud. Those are significant numbers and it’s frustrating for all, wasting time, money and potentially impacting election outcomes, especially at local levels.
This might be a dumb question…but how would someone know if their campaigns are being impacted by ad fraud?
Not at all. We get asked this frequently during election season’s prime time. Having an experienced media buying team (like Powers!!) in your corner helps to identify and mitigate fraud asap. Some of the signs that may indicate your campaign is being impacted include unusually high CTR’s and or bounce rates, low conversion rates, uneven delivery (sudden spikes in traffic), weird and random clicks from unusual locations. Fun fact: the majority of ad farms (people hired to sit and click on ads all day) are located in India or other low wage countries. Pay attention to your geo and where your ads are delivering. For my fundraising friends, you all know low quality leads are one the biggest indicators of fraudulent activity.
What are practical things media buyers can do to prevent or mitigate fraud? And on a related note- what questions should campaigns be asking their vendors or ad partners to make sure they’re getting quality inventory and less fraud?
Media buyers have many tools at their disposal for fraud mitigation. In my experience, it’s a combination of working with reputable partners, 3rd party fraud identification tech companies (Moat, Double Verify, IAS, and Human, formally White Ops), inventory supply path optimization (SPO) and block and or allow lists.
While not exactly fraudulent, ads on low quality websites can have similar loss of efficacy. We have seen huge success with SPO in our efforts to combat fraud over the past year. Swimming upstream by working directly with publishers and inventory supply side partners (SSP’s) cuts out the middlemen of long tail networks and exchanges that are a breeding ground for fraudulent activity and bloatware. We were the first, but definitely won’t be the last to focus here.
I encourage folks to ask their digital partners the following questions:
What measures do you have in place to prevent ad fraud?
How often do you audit your inventory?
What are your policies on suspicious activity?
What is your SPO strategy?
Do you think there is - or should be - a legislative fix for this problem?
I have many items on my political advertising legislative wish list, as I’m sure we all do. There have been a few class action lawsuits filed against companies accused of ad fraud in the past few years. These lawsuits are still ongoing and it remains to be seen how they will be resolved. They do highlight the growing awareness of ad fraud in the public square. The path of least resistance remains industry self regulation. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Media Rating Council (MRC) have been at the forefront of this battle and have developed a number of self regulatory initiatives to combat ad fraud and increase advertiser transparency. Education is a big piece of the puzzle as well. Educating media buyers, strategists and publishers that ad fraud is complex and there is no silver bullet. Ringing the alarm that ad fraud is a persistent and real issue in our business can help bring more awareness and prevent it from happening in the first place. If you would like to hear some top shelf FEC complaining please call my colleague Jordan Lieberman directly. After all, your campaign is only as strong as your weakest ad placement.
Thank you, Kate!!!
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Fav Stanley tumbler color? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who just launched her campaign against Florida Sen. Rick Scott, is up with a bunch of fundraising Facebook ads. It’s notable insofar as every time I see a Dem go up with fundraising ads I feel like I’m experiencing deja vu. They’re starting to all look the same, and pretty soon I’m going to start knocking the left’s creativity this cycle. One of the variations even appears to have run on August 30…which is an interesting choice for someone running to represent Florida right now (hello, hurricane). She also launched two new fundraising ads on August 31, while various parts of the state were basically underwater and without power. But you do you, Mucarsel-Powell.
One more thing - someone sent me a copy of this 2023 email deck from Netroots Nation. It’s worth taking 5 minutes to peruse, and I appreciate the top-line advice: Don’t be a dumpster fire.
From the other side of the tracks:
Came across a nice Twitter thread from marketing guru Alex Garcia about how to win at Twitter in 2023 (I still can’t say X, sorry). Some good stuff here. But if you’re crunched for time I’ll save you the trouble and pass along my biggest takeaways:
Replies are clutch for boosting reach
Video is king
Be authentic and human
You’re welcome.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!