Political Ads

As we move into the heart of the 2024 election cycle, more people will be dedicating time and resources to creating digital political advertising plans. The Campaign Workshop has been actively involved in digital political ads for over a decade, and each year we have seen a growing emphasis on the importance and effectiveness of digital advertising within political campaigns. 
Why spend money on digital political advertising now?

Keith Gaby is a political communications and public affairs specialist with over 30 years of experience. Previously, Keith has worked on two presidential campaigns, as well as being appointed to the position of Director of Intergovernmental affairs before working as a speechwriter for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Throughout his successful career he also directed two films, The Quality of Light and The Bigger Hammer, a film which analyzes the messaging of the Obama and McCain campaigns during the 2008 presidential election. Currently Keith serves as the Vice President of Public Affairs for the Environmental Defense Fund, an organization dedicated to climate justice across the globe. This week, we asked him 7 questions about his career path and experience. Check out the podcast interview here. 

While it’s true that the world of online advertising is fast-paced- banking on instantaneous programs is a good way to fall short of your goals. Planning for a digital program will give you time to really define your goals and make sure your campaign has the right components, creative, and timeline to achieve them.

Choosing the right political advertising for your political campaign can make the difference between winning and losing. Which political advertising medium a campaign chooses depends largely on their strategic objectives, targets, and, of course, budget.

Whether it’s for Coca-Cola, AARP, or your local 4-H club, the goal of a print ad remains largely the same: get the reader to take an action. That action could be buying more pop, calling Congress, or raising a prize pig. To make that happen, you need to catch people’s attention and then clearly and concisely tell them what you want them to do. A print ad can be expensive, so make sure you’re getting your money’s worth. Below are a few of the best-practices we have used to create advocacy print ads for clients that make an impact.

Twitter announced that they will stop allowing political ads to run on its platform which has the potential to have further implications across the industry. Will other companies follow suit? Facebook has received a lot of flak lately from both the public and the government centered around political ads.

Deno Seder is an expert in political advertising and crafting advocacy and political videos. He has worked with candidates across all levels of government, for various advocacy groups, and on ballot measure campaigns. From creating video ads urging voters not to cast a ballot for Donald Trump to aiding in the effort to ban Greyhound dog racing in Florida, Deno has a wide array of experiences in the political space.

If you’re running political ads for your independent expenditure campaign, you already have to make extra sure that everything you’re doing and saying is legal. All of your content will likely need to be reviewed by lawyers, especially if it could be controversial. But one area that’s relatively new to this kind of review is making sure your digital ad accounts and/or pages have been verified to run political ads in the US.

Digital political ad transparency has been an elusive thing. In a world of fake news, hacked sites and independent expenditures from groups you have never heard of, actionable information on digital spending is important. For years, you have been able to find out what opponents are spending on television and radio. Now, digital publishers a re starting to focus on  digital ad transparency. They are making it easier to see what folks are doing with paid digital political ads.

Here at The Campaign Workshop, we always stress the value of storytelling with strong visuals in political and advocacy advertising. In other words, using photos or footage of authentic people looking straight into a camera and speaking candidly about things they’ve experienced, makes communications materials more compelling. There’s far more potential to persuade folks through testimonials than there is through wonky policy white papers – the question is, why?

Member public affairs strategies can be an amazing way to move your issue forward. Membership organizations should have a head start when it comes to public affairs strategies, but that head start is often complicated. Membership organizations tend to have bureaucratic structures that make it difficult to work nimbly, especially when it comes to public affairs. Because of this, some member organizations have avoided using member-based public affairs strategies and they are missing out.

Races are heating up, but there are a number of exciting opportunities for Democrats up and down the ticket. Here are some tips to jumpstart your Democratic campaign: