Welcome to 2025, Doomscrollers
Doomscroll 1.5.2025
Hello, friends. To paraphrase our favorite Nancy: “There’s no point in saying Happy New Year because it certainly is not one.” Word. Two terrorist attacks, severe winter storms, a Netflix series from the Duchess of Sussex, and we’ve barely finished our black eyed peas. What is going on!? Welcome to 2025.
Anyway, I hope all you paid subscribers enjoyed the Winners and Losers edition of Doomscroll! Like I said in the post, we ALL learned a thing or two through that little exercise. And if you missed it, I am sorry - better luck next time!
Let’s get to some doomscrolling, shall we?
One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered the last One Question before the holiday break about bonuses. Just to recap: 83% of those who answered said they were happy with their bonuses. Numbers ranged from 0 to $20,000, to $75,000 to things like “10% of base salary.”
This week’s One Question is simple: What are your 2025 resolutions? Can be anything related to your professional life, personal life (gulp!), what you want to try/do/experiment with in the digital space… The sky’s the limit! I’ll even go first. Some of my 2025 resolutions are:
Read (or listen) to one book a month
Post more on LinkedIn
Win every race (duh)
Roll out some fun, new things for Doomscroll!
Ok, guys: go!
One Quote
If you don’t know who Thomas Ravenel is, you’re not really missing out? Short version: wealthy SC rising political star, turned convicted felon (cocaine, tsk tsk), turned reality TV star, turned senate candidate, turned…guy who probably spends too much time on X. THAT SAID….this sentiment here is worth noting.
One Thought
I KNOW Mr. Ravenel isn’t alone in his thinking here. And I know a lot of online fundraisers decided to “press on” over the holidays, and I’m not one to judge necessarily. I’m just a digital strategist…standing in front of a group of operatives…asking if maybe we can all agree that angry donors don’t help us in the long run. If a donor gave a decent chunk of change to the cause in 2024, maybe they get rewarded by being suppressed from sends for a small period of time. Just a thought!
Who’s Doing What
—Freedom to Search
Freespoke - the free-speech/anonymous web browser backed by Todd Ricketts - has been around for awhile, but the company just launched roughly $30,000 worth of ad spend on Facebook in the last week. And in the last 30 days,t hey’ve spent just over $100,000 to promote the browser as the alternative to the evil empire that is Google. Definitely a sign of the times: incoming Trump Administration, high levels of distrust in our media and institutions, fears over the deep state… If Freespoke and its parent company Freedom Fries LLC (lol) weren’t trying to capitalize on the moment, I’d say something was wrong with them.
—Debt and Politics
If there was one lesson we all took from the 2024 election cycle, it’s that spreading your wings as a candidate when it comes to reaching voters in new places - aka venturing where you haven’t gone before - is vital. And if you have your own platform, the reverse is true. Which leads me to Nikki Haley, who’s a pro at keeping her profile up even when she isn’t running for anything. Over the holidays, she had financial guru Dave Ramsey on her show, Nikki Haley Live, and has been promoting the heck out of it ever since on social. Smart move. Ramsey and his millions of devoted followers are a worthwhile target audience.
—House Rules
An advertiser called ::checks notes:: the U.S. House of Representatives has spent about $22,000 on Google ads since December 26. The ads, mostly video, feature a handful of members talking about what they’ve done for their district, how they can help their constituents, etc. The members? All Democrats except for Rep. Greg Steube from Florida, which is why I’m including it here and NOT as an “other side of the aisle” item. Other participants include Joaquin Castro of Texas (half the ad spend has been in Texas), Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, and Wiley Nickel of North Carolina. It is kind of interesting/noteworthy that most of these videos feature Dems. Right??
Who’s Spending Where
P2P
This week’s text highlight goes to the Young Republican National Federation. Why? Because proofreading is important!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Industry Watch
Some quick (and hopefully helpful) hits today!
☎️ ChatGPT is coming to landlines and WhatsApp. Read more here.
📧 Educate yourself on iOS18 and its changes to Apple Mail.
🎞️ Check out the best ads on YouTube in 2024, and what made them so successful. Hint: Creative storytelling!
💸 What is Principle-Based Media Buying? Good question.
🤳 Instagram is predicted to make up more than half of Facebook’s ad sales in 2025. Read more here.
2025-2026 Watch
Former GOP Congressman Denver Riggleman might run for Lt. Governor…or something else?...in Virginia this year. Read more here.
The Alabama gubernatorial race is starting to shape up! Read more about it here. This is gonna be a good one!
The Grapevine
Congrats to Calli Cooper for her new job as Comms Director for the Republican Study Committee! The digital world will miss you! :D
Speaking of new jobs, all the new job tweets and pics from Capitol Hill on Friday definitely gave me “first day of school” vibes. LMAO. Congrats to ANYONE who started a new gig in the 119th Congress. May God be with you.
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:
Right before Christmas, Higher Ground Labs released its report on the impact its companies had on the 2024 election. Always worth taking a look at what the other side thinks is working! Check it out here.
From the other side of the tracks:
I’m soooo torn on how I feel about this “B.S. Blocker” New Year’s marketing campaign from RXBar. It’s certainly creative. It’s certainly clever. But it also feels…kind of asshole-ish? Am I wrong?? Asking people to report “bad ads” and get rewarded for it sounds super Big Brother-ish. And literally blocking those ads with a truck because some people don’t like them sounds a lot like the cancel culture from the left that makes me want to claw my eyes out. I don’t know. I love me a good RXBar from time to time, but this rubs me the wrong way. The company says it’s just trying to promote realness and authenticity - No B.S. Great, then why not just focus on your own brand and give people a reason to buy your bars?
What’s the lesson here for us politicos? Maybe I’m the only person who feels this way, but this campaign really underscores how important it is to pick the *right time* and the *right way* to go negative.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!