TikTok on the clock
Doomscroll 4.2.23
Friends, I asked you to subscribe. My grandma asked you to subscribe. My Labrador even reached out and asked you to subscribe. I still came up short. A couple days ago I had my first major, quarterly deadline and I missed it - by a lot. Please help me catch up by subscribing to Doomscroll ASAP. We can’t let the libs win!
One Question
Let’s settle this question once and for all: SHOULD TIKTOK BE BANNED? TikTok on the clock. But the party won’t stop - or will it? Vote now or forever hold your peace.
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s question about the Trump campaign telling digital vendors not to use his image in fundraising (how’s that going this week????)
83% of you said the threat will hurt down-ballot candidates. On the scale of annoyance over this, most of you fell into what I’ll call the “moderately annoyed” lane. Fair. I also got some additional interesting response about the move by Trump world, which I’ll share here:
Republicans should be focusing on new donors! Full stop.
We got the letter and asked for whom we did it and then nothing. It is all smoke and mirrors with "those people."
(I’m not a lawyer) I can’t possibly see how the Trump campaign could legally Bar anyone from using his name when he’s constantly in the news.
I’m personally annoyed, but for the types of programs I run and plan to run this won’t necessarily affect my content strategy. Overall, Trump is hurting the Republican Party and creating division while hurting down ballot programs - and his own candidates. Also… who doesn’t like free publicity? Makes no sense to me.
Aligning with Trump is certainly beneficial in certain primaries but if you can't build a brand on anything else, maybe you have bigger problems.
One more housekeeping note: I got a little bit of pushback about saying last week that spending money on ads to promote Facebook page likes is a waste of ad dollars. In the wake of Facebook’s latest political targeting restrictions, this person argued, getting page likes is a necessary first step toward getting people into your marketing funnel. Eh, maybe. I’m still not super convinced by this, but I appreciate the thoughtful reply and the thinking. Maybe I am wrong! If I end up buying page like ads this cycle, I’ll buy a round for all of you. Margaritas on me! Fine, we can even go to Mission.
Who’s Doing What
--Asa’s In
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced this morning that he’s officially joining the GOP presidential primary field. I wish him the best! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the more the merrier. It’s been no secret that the gov has spent BIG bucks on Facebook lead-gen ads in the past couple of months through his PAC, America Strong and Free. Still, he doesn’t appear to yet have an official campaign website just yet, and I couldn’t find any live ads on Facebook or Google. Maybe those things will come when he “formally” announces later this month. On that note, though, does anyone really know the difference between announcing in a Sunday interview with Jon Karl and “formally” announcing at an event in Bentonville? Is there a difference, other than the optics? From a digital perspective, he’s officially in as of April 2, so why not take advantage of the initial search traffic with some ads? Just a thought. Regardless, Gov. Hutchinson is a voice the party needs and I hope his lane runs for a while.
--The Aftermath of Tragedy
A while back I worked at a small, Virginia-based organization called the National Rifle Association. During my time there we had an official, top-down policy of going dark on social media right after tragic events like the one that occurred in Nashville earlier this week. And I’m talking dark: no tweets, no facebook posts, no emails, and definitely no ads. It looks like that policy is no more. The group is running a plethora of lead-gen ads on Facebook asking people to sign the “official” NRA petition. From where I stood, it didn’t look like the ads were ever paused, though if you have knowledge to the contrary, please do correct me. Ad copy includes pretty benign and harmless pro-gun text like “Fight Back Against Anti-Gun Politicians”. The group also kept up its Twitter feed and posted throughout the week, fwiw.
Side note: it’s worth pointing out that the Facebook ads are being run by the general operations side of the NRA - not its lobbying/political arm. It’s a distinction worth making.
Do I have thoughts on this? Yes I do. Here they are: As someone who did digital in-house at the political arm of the NRA, the going-dark policy always frustrated me. I didn’t understand why, as a membership organization, we wouldn’t use every tool at our disposal to communicate with members (and the public at large) during difficult times. Going dark meant we let other people (anti-gun advocates) define our narrative for us when it mattered the most. So, I have no issue with the NRA continuing to run its ads. But as a digital strategist who spends a lot of time thinking about how campaigns and organizations effectively communicate online, the NRA’s strategy this week leaves a lot to be desired. Why not redirect some of that ad spend on creative and messaging that talks about things like school safety, firearm statistics, legislation the NRA has supported to reduce crime, etc etc. And yes, there’s a lesson here for campaigns: if your digital strategy does not allow you to be nimble and responsive to current events, you’re doing it wrong. Don’t ignore tough issues.
The group could learn a thing or two from Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who released a brief video in response to the shooting. Watch it here. This is an appropriate response from an elected official and a good use of social media to communicate it.
--Supreme Showdown
The Supreme Court race in Wisconsin is getting h-e-a-t-e-d. I’ll be honest, this isn’t one that I’m paying super close attention to - I just know it’s a big deal in the land of cheese and badgers. That said, I did see a new group pop up this week with ads: Women Speak Out PAC. The group, which hasn’t been active with Facebook ads since November of last year, is running a 30-second spot attacking liberal candidate Janet Protasiewicz for letting a rapist back out on the streets (I literally l had to look up how to spell her last name 3 times and I’m still not sure if I have it right). Another 30-second ad attacks her for supporting late-term abortion. Ok; more about this group. For those who don’t know, Women Speak Out PAC is associated with the Susan B. Anthony List and its SBA Pro-Life America PAC. Their goal is to educate voters about the “extremism of pro-abortion lawmakers and to urge these voters to choose candidates who are committed to defending life.” From March 20-26, they spent around $27,000 on Facebook ads alone to attack Janet P. Yes, I’m calling her Janet P from here on out.
-- Indictment Smindictment
You know what happened, and there’s not a whole for me to add. Lots of GOPer’s - from Mike Pence to Lindsey Graham - reacted and came to the Donald’s defense. But since I’m always looking for interesting uses of digital on the right, I will note that Team Trump redirected DonaldJTrump.com to a WinRed page. Nice. The GOP fundraising machines fired up in full red-white-and-blue force Thursday evening and Friday morning to cash in on the news. To be expected, and I hope it does well for everyone! Rake in those small dollars and rest assured: Trump is not afraid. Happy Trump Indictment Fundraising Day to all who celebrate!
--AOC 🤝 Rand Paul
A match made in heaven? Maybe, when it comes to TikTok. Raise your hand if you’re tired of reading/hearing/talking about TikTok. Just me? Ok.
Self-identified socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Libertarian-ish Sen. Rand Paul both came out in opposition to a national ban on the Chinese-owned app. “If you don’t like TikTok or Facebook or YouTube, don’t use them,” said Paul. “But don’t think that any interpretation of the Constitution gives you the right to ban them.” TBH, I’m sympathetic to Paul’s argument here, and I waffle between supporting and opposing a TikTok ban depending on what I ate for breakfast and how the weather is outside.
--Tar Heel State Showdown
North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell has thrown his hat into the ring for governor. Congrats. But Dale - if you’re reading this - contact me. Help me help you. Let’s get this website moved into the 21st century.
Who’s Spending Where
From March 23 - 29, PragerU was the top center-right spender on Facebook, with about $112,000 in spend. The Coalition for Medicare Choices came in second place with about $85,000 in spend. Women Speak Out PAC spent another $66,000 or so attacking Janet P in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, and Students First NY spent $54,000 on ads promoting charter schools and school choice so I’m definitely putting them in the “conservative” category. Last but not least, is American Action Network, which spent about $48,000. Who didn’t make it in the top five this week? Newsmax Media! There’s a first for everything…
American Action Network was the top center-right spender on Google, with an ad attacking liberals for being too worried about gas stoves and cow farts. Cool, cool. WMC Issues Mobilization Council Inc is in second place with an ad attacking Janet P in Wisconsin. The Illinois Policy Institute spent around $20K to promote a 57-minute-long video/documentary ad. Yes, you read that right: 57 minutes. Fair Courts America came in fourth place this week with ads against Janet P, while the RSLC came in fifth place.
P.S. If Dan Kelly loses the WI race, it’ll be because he was massively outspent.
P2P
Industry Watch
Higher Ground Labs - a leftwing “startup accelerator and venture fund” - released its 2022 industry tech report on Friday. Do yourself a favor and read it. If nothing else, it provides insight into how the left is thinking about and approaching political tech. One point I’ll highlight from the executive summary - and something we don’t talk enough about AT ALL - is how much down-ballot campaigns struggle to access the basic tools of an effective tech stack. The left and right both struggle with this, and it’s a problem. Food for thought.
Also: Google is expanding its ads transparency report to include non-political ads. Cool.
The Grapevine
Congrats to all the Reed Award winners! Some honorable mentions: Majority Strategies, RumbleUp, Politicoin…there are too many to mention them all here!
Push Digital Managing Partner Phil Vangelakos had an op-ed in The Hill about the importance of digital video for “modern political campaigns.” Are we really still having this debate? Read it here.
Public Affairs consultant Sue Zoldak has launched a new tech incubator called Wolfram Labs. The goal, according to Zoldak (per C&E) is to help companies sell their products and tap into the DC market. Congrats to Zoldak; we wish her success with this new venture!
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Fav Succession character? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
The country’s least-impressive governor also apparently has the country’s least-impressive press secretary. Or HAD the least-impressive press secretary. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (who, as you ALL KNOW, actually LOST to Kari Lake) employed one Josselyn Berry, who tweeted a photo promoting violence against transphobes (aka people who question trans ideology). Whatever. I’m not one for cancel culture, but to her credit Berry did resign. Let this be a lesson to every single one of you: ummm…just…be a nice person and maybe you get to keep your job and bang out more press releases? Oh, and be careful what you tweet.
From the other side of the tracks:
Pinterest has always been a bit of a white whale for me. Its active user base is not insignificant…and yet political campaigns have never seemed to be able to really crack the Pinterest board code. Maybe that’s because there is no code to crack, but I still find this interesting:
Advertisers are spending more on the platform, according to four media buyers Digiday spoke to. Granted, the levels of spending are nowhere near what’s being spent on the largest social networks and online video platforms, but it’s clear Pinterest has momentum in the wider ad slowdown. Last year, Pinterest increased its revenue by 11.9% to $2.6 billion, whereas Meta’s (albeit much larger) revenue contracted 1%.
What is Pinterest? Is it a search engine? Is it a social media platform? Is it a combination of the two? And while the company bans political advertising, is there still a way to use the platform to reach female voters? Who knows.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!