Making Debates Great Again

Doomscroll 10.6.2024

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Hello and welcome to another edition of Doomscroll! Question: Where were YOU during the greatest debate performance of all time?

This week’s Doomscroll is sponsored by RumbleUp!

Keep scrolling for a Q&A with CEO Thomas Peters!

One Question

Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about the VP debate. This will be the shortest One Question report ever: Everyone said JD would wipe the floor with Walz. And you all were right! Congrats! Pat yourselves on the back.

Ok, this week’s One Question is ALSO simple and decidedly non-digital: Let’s talk vendor swag. I know you guys are sending ‘em and getting ‘em. Election Day survival kits with “hang in there!” messages! So what do you guys like sending and receiving? I’m going to compile notes and blast it on X, obviously, so help your girl out!

Who’s Doing What

—Making VP Debates Great Again

Look, whatever you think of JD Vance, there’s no denying his debate performance was maybe the best ever, so I can’t let this week go by without talking about it. Although…what else is there to say? Ok: From a digital perspective, there’s honestly not much there. I kept an eye out for interesting texts, emails, ads, etc, but you know what? Not a lot of campaigns or groups seized the moment. I feel like I’m on every list imaginable right now, and I didn’t get a single text the night of the debate asking for anything (yes, I double-checked). Emails were scant, as well, aside from what I got from the Trump campaign. I got a few polls and “sign a card for JD!” emails from people like Marsha Blackburn, Bernie Moreno and Joni Ernst…but other than that, literally every appeal I got this week seemed to center around EOQ fundraising deadlines - not the VP debate. JD filmed a post-debate video fundraising appeal that’s been running on Facebook, which you can see here.

—Sun’s Out, Guns Out
I’m happy to see the National Rifle Association playing in this election cycle. To be honest, I wasn’t sure they’d be around at all in the year of our Lord 2024. Are gun rights a big issue this cycle? They ALWAYS are for a certain portion of the electorate. Anyway, I think this ad hitting Sherrod Brown in Ohio is pretty good.

They’re also running a handful of ads on Facebook promoting candidates like Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina, Gabe Evans in Colorado, Derek Merrin in Ohio, and more. AND they’re doing some anti-Kamala gun ban ads. Everything just links to NRA-PVF endorsement pages (boring), but otherwise, it’s good stuff.

—Repeat after me: Relational Organizing

Any longtime readers of Doomscroll knows that A) the GOP’s tech stack and B) The right’s slow embrace of relational organizing has been either an all-consuming obsession or a pet peeve of mine (depending on the day). But…that’s why I’m so stoked to give a huge shout-out to Numinar this week. And no, this isn’t sponsored. I’m genuinely excited about what they’re doing in this space right now. 

We all know voter-to-voter contact is more impactful than campaign-to-voter contact. Campaigns should be spending more time getting volunteers to get their friends to vote, then doing the outreach themselves. We know this to be true and yet campaigns lack the will and/or resources to make it a central part of their GOTV strategies - which is a darn shame if you ask me! 

Anyway, you may or may not remember that a couple weeks ago I included a blurb about how the Kari Lake campaign was using the Numinar app to pay people $5 for every voter they reached out to in their contacts to encourage them to vote. That’s a really interesting way to spend ad dollars in the final stretch before Election Day, IMHO. Now, you don’t HAVE to spend money to use the relational organizing tool. If you’re a Numinar client you can set up an account and recruit users organically - which is still great! But if you’ve got extra budget…why not allocate it towards something like this instead of another Meta campaign? I reached out to Lauren Devoll at Numinar (I know most of you probably know here already!) to get some more info. And here’s the thing: THEY were approached earlier this year by Sentinel Action Fund who asked them to build this capability so they could really focus on AB / EV chase efforts this fall. I love hearing that this whole thing was client-driven.

Here’s more from Lauren:

Ever since we debuted relational organizing at the convention, people have been relieved to see a Republican technology company take relational organizing seriously. You can see the wheels turning as partners start to think about how to incorporate targeted friend-to-friend outreach in both field and digital content programs. If the goal is influence, we're going to have to empower the most influential among us - friends and family that people trust. As voters become harder and harder to reach, tapping into previously established networks in a more organic way will transition from nice to necessary.

Here’s one more thing I’ll add: The political digital world is changing and will continue to change in a big way next year regardless of what happens on Election Day. Leaning into relational organizing and leveraging voter-to-voter contact is a great way for digital operatives to sharpen their skills, prove their worth, deliver results and demand another seat at THE TABLE. #Winning

—AMERICA
Who else caught that America PAC changed their X handle to simply “America”? Lit.

Who’s Spending Where

Facebook

Google

P2P

This week’s positive text shout-out goes to Nikki Haley! Why am I giving her props this week? Because I think she’s doing a good job using her short code to stay relevant without being annoying. AND I’m a fan of senders identifying themselves at the top of every message. Yes, every. single. message.

Ok you guys: I know you’re in the P2P texting weeds right now! I think you’ll really find this Q&A with RumbleUp’s Thomas Peters helpful as we go into the final stretch of campaign season!

Ok, we’re in the final stretch! Can you give campaigns 1-2 pieces of advice for how they should be approaching their P2P strategies between now and Election Day?
Focus on two key things: targeting and timing. First, make sure your texts are properly targeted. Good data is your best friend: segment your lists, use live data tags like AB/EV (we offer this data at no charge), and personalize the call to action based on whether someone is an absentee, early voter, etc. Second is timing. Plan your sends around key voting windows, especially when people are getting ballots, and don’t forget to coordinate with your other channels. The campaigns that win are the ones that have a consistent message across texting, digital ads, mailers, CTV, etc. Bonus points for pulling people off your lists once they’ve early voted.

Is there ONE thing you see campaigns doing wrong on the texting front that drives you crazy? If so, what is it? Now’s your chance to let it out!
Absolutely. The number one mistake I see is one I spoke of in a recent post, which is focusing on fundraising at the expense of persuasion/GOTV. Texting remains the most powerful tool we have to get voters to vote, which is why GOTV was the original use case for texting.

A simple GOTV text to a donor, for instance, thanking them for voting instead of asking for money, can make all the difference in building a long-term relationship beyond this cycle. Campaigns also miss out by not focusing on persuasion by adding videos, personalized graphics, and making direct responses to breaking news. This isn't just about bombarding people with the same message; it’s about being smart, targeted, and highly contextual. We have the tools and data to track who has voted, so pull them off your list once they have. If campaigns text right, we can absolutely flip races in the final stretch.

Ok so the other day I did a Google news search for “political text messaging” and every single result on page one was some article about how to stop the flood of texts going to your phone. What do you make of the fact that so many Americans say they’re fed up with getting texts? I mean, obviously there’s a weird dichotomy here. If texts didn’t work, we wouldn’t be using them. But still…
There’s definitely a fine line between effective outreach and the overtexting to donors that fatigues them. Donors are fed up because of the bad practices that have most likely spilled over from political email outreach space - too many messages that aren’t personalized, aren't relevant, or feel gimmicky. But at the same time, the reason we keep texting is because it works. It’s the fastest, most direct way to reach people. The key is to use it wisely. Campaigns that do it right by being respectful, personalized, and continue to provide real value get a much more positive response. It’s on all of us, as an industry, to make sure we’re being thoughtful and not just adding to the noise. ALSO, your GOTV and persuasion audiences will be much bigger than your donor list, so you should focus your persuasion and GOTV texts to these lower-propensity turnout lists.

What does the future of texting look like on the Republican side post-2024?
Texting will only become more integrated into the larger marketing and field ecosystem. Looking ahead, I see campaigns getting even smarter with data: combining voter information, behavioral patterns, and cross-channel activity to create hyper-personalized, coordinated experiences for each voter. I think we’ll also see more creative uses of texting, especially with multimedia like video and graphics that can really bring messages to life. The Republican side, in particular, is going to keep pushing the envelope with data-driven outreach because we’ve amassed a lot of data. There’s a huge opportunity for campaigns to tie together different platforms, from texting to ads to email, in a seamless way that reaches voters wherever they are while cross-amplifying the message. Our most sophisticated clients are already using our API and reporting tools to do this effectively this cycle.

Anything RumbleUp is working on that you’d like to share with Doomscroll readers?
We’ve rolled out some new tools just this week to help clients in the final stretch:

1. Conversation Automation allows you to integrate in-text surveys with automated responses driven by logic you set up directly within our platform.

2. The new Text Now Dashboard is a centralized messaging hub that eliminates the need for texters to switch between different accounts to find their assigned projects We’ve also improved the interface for managing texters.

3. Our AI Writing Assistant is now available when responding to replies with AI Generated Responses (beta). It considers the original message, the recipient’s reply, and any other relevant data to craft a pointed, relevant response to assist in communicating with your audience. Super excited about this one!

4. Clients can import contacts across multiple sub-accounts during list upload to save time. Great for clients managing lots of campaigns.

5. Clients can now generate and receive reports automatically via API without logging into the portal to make working with third-party tools or custom dashboards much more seamless

6. Fun Send Button Animations is a “just for fun” feature that reflects our commitment to creating an enjoyable user experience. Because texting shouldn’t be boring! 

Industry Watch

Real talk: I’m kind of fascinated by WhatsApp and its channels feature, and using it as another avenue to reach voters. Seriously. And what’s more, the idea got the NYT treatment this week. Here’s a snippet:

Late last year, the app introduced WhatsApp Channels, a kind of one-way broadcasting system that allows publishers to send links and headlines directly to followers. Numerous outlets are using it as a way to draw in readers and build direct relationships with an audience that is largely outside the United States.

…

“It’s not like social media traditionally, because you, as a user, control what you want to see, and can check it when you want to,” said Alice Newton-Rex, head of product at WhatsApp. “Alongside of private messaging, people were saying they wanted to hear more about topics, teams and organizations across WhatsApp.”

Ms. Newton-Rex likened the product to how people received email newsletters, something that her team focused on when designing the Channels product. She noted that people regularly forwarded links and messages they found on Channels to their own private chat groups, allowing more people to discover news articles or updates from other people or companies running their own Channels.

Without going into too much detail, I experimented with WhatsApp for a client last year and think there’s some promising applications there…Maybe I’m wrong, but it’s certainly worth testing! 

2024 Watch

This is where I make note of a few other things that caught my eye this week.

• Donald Trump did a sit-down interview with financial guru Dave Ramsey. Nice. Watch it here. 

• Indiana gubernatorial candidate Mike Braun took some heat for running an ad with a doctored image of his opponent. (AI scaries!). Read about it here. 

• The Michigan Senate race is getting super expensive. Read about it here. 

•  “They are out-matching us in money, in enthusiasm and in the ground game.” Yikes. 

• Kevin McCarthy dropping $14M to help Republicans right now. Read more here.

• Kari Lake has a new ad touting an endorsement from former AZ Governor Doug Ducey. Watch it here.

The Grapevine

• Shameless plug: I was super honored to join FWIW’s Kyle Tharp on Katie Harbath’s podcast, Impossible Tradeoffs, this week! Katie is the OG of Substack in this realm of the internet (IMO). In fact, before I even launched Doomscroll, I cornered her at an event in D.C. and quizzed her about what it’s like to do a weekly newsletter. She was incredibly gracious  and helpful and…as a result, here we are! Listen (and watch) here. Thank you for having me, Katie!!! 

• Good reminder by Politicoin’s Ken Mika about including GOTV language in fundraising appeals. 

• Just HOW is it that Dems are able to find their way into our Gmail primary inboxes?? H/T @AJBoed 

• A friend of mine sent me the below screenshots. It’s time to honor opt-outs. LET’S DO BETTER, PEOPLE. 

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:

Here we go again: This is really freaking shady, and that’s all I’m going to say!

From the other side of the tracks:

Ok Ford, we see you! Check this out:

Now, according to PCMag, Ford has secured a US patent for a new in-car advertising system that can serve targeted advertising (as it knows where you’re going) and even listen to passengers’ in-car conversations. Again to serve targeted ads but also, it seems, to gather data on what passengers think. Or, indeed, whatever else they may be up to if the mood takes them.

I mean…what is there to say? The possibilities are endless!

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!