A presidential
campaign is
a vast exercise in communications. Personal encounters are
usually
most telling in shaping impressions of a candidate, but a candidate can
only meet so many people first-hand and must get his or
her message out to a wider audience through an infinite variety of free
media opportunities and paid advertising.
Presidential candidates and their campaigns,
political parties, groups
supporting or opposing various candidates, and groups seeking to inject
their issues into the presidential campaign dialogue are working hard
to get
their
messages out. Crafting an effective message is not an easy task;
citizens are bombarded with countless communications every day and are
busy with their day to day lives, so the intended target may not even
receive or pay attention to the message.
Among the possibilities for paid media, depending on its budget, a campaign can run ads on broadcast, cable or satellite television (+), on radio stations with varying formats, it can run print ads in national, local or community newspapers or in magazines, it can put ads on the Internet or on various social media, it can print up nice, glossy brochures or less expensive flyers, it can do direct mail or robocalls, or it can put up a billboard. Television continues to get the majority of campaign media spending, while direct mail and Internet also receive significant shares.1
In
terms of free media, a candidate do all manner of interviews and media
appearances 2, deliver a formal
policy
speech at a think tank in Washington or New York, hold a town hall
meeting
outside the Beltway, write a book and do a book tour, make a
photo-friendly
visit to a significant location such as the border or an energy plant,
or even stop in for an impromptu visit to a local cafe.
Some
candidates
are better communicators than others. Because the candidate
cannot
go everywhere, the campaign will sometimes send surrogates, generally
family
members, elected officials or celebrities. A candidate's wife can
be a particularly effective ambassador for the candidate. The
campaign can generate free media as well, for example by rolling out a
coalition, doing a canvass or posting an edgy video.
Campaigns continue to devote increasing attention and resources to
social media; Twitter really came to the fore in 2016 3,
while
newer
tools
such
as
Snapchat
and
Periscope
popped
up.
In determining the
message he or
she
wishes to convey, a candidate starts with his or her individual
experience,
intelligence and values and has input from a team of trusted
advisors.
Paid consultants may weigh in to determine how the message should be
presented,
i.e. what medium, what approach (serious and straightforward, humorous,
dramatic...) and so forth. Consultants at times seem to be
ubiquitous and some
argue that they have changed campaign discourse for the worse.
The effectiveness of the message depends on such factors as timing (what other events are happening in the world), the medium used (how the message is delivered), and the receptivity of the audience. In modern campaigns there is a lot of testing, focus grouping and polling to shape the message.4 Sometimes a meticulously crafted message will flop, while a slapped together one will go viral. During the long campaign, candidates will inevitably stray from the talking points or make gaffes which completely overshadow the message. Meanwhile supporters are out spreading the word. A contact through social media, a call, note or visit from a neighbor, supporter or campaign staffer can be much more effective than an annoying robocall. Even small features such as the logo or typeface a campaign uses or the musical zing at the end of an ad can make a difference. With more and more Americans using the Internet and mobile devices to obtain news and information about politics, campaigns are devoting more resources to online communications and social media.
Of course,
the candidate and the campaign are not the only ones communicating;
the message environment is crowded with communications from competing
campaigns, interest groups and the political parties6.
Groups
such
as American
Bridge
21
Century
PAC
and America Rising PAC,
are
trying
to
tar
potential
candidates
of
the
other
side
with
as
many
negatives
as
possible.
The
media are sifting through and reporting these messages or parts of them.
Notes
1. Tom Edmonds, a Republican media strategist and former president of the American Association of Political Consultants, estimated in 2012 that 55-percent of campaign advertising dollars go to television, 15-percent to direct mail, 13-percent to Internet, 8-percent to radio, 8-percent to newspaper and 1-percent to outdoor advertising. (Presentation at Newspaper Association of America/American Society of Newspaper Editors Convention in Washington, DC, April 5, 2012).
2. See for example letters from some of the
Republican campaigns requesting equal time after Donald Trump's Nov. 8,
2015 appearance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" (PDFs): Gilmore
|
Graham
|
Huckabee
|
Kasich
|
Pataki.
NBC
reached
agreements
to
run
some
ads
from
the
campaigns
(+).
3. Yin Yin Liu. "#Never Hillary vs #Never
Trump." Dec. 21, 2016. Rowman
&
Littlefield
International
blog. A very informative article with
lots of useful details and links to resources and research.
4. Sasha Issenberg. "The Death of the
Hunch" May 22, 2012. Slate.
RESOURCES pages from: 2012 | 2008
"a nonpartisan, nonprofit 'consumer advocate' for
voters that aims to
reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We
monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political
players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news
releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism
and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and
understanding... FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg
Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania."
Brandwatch:
2016
Presidential
Election
Visualization
...analyzes, illustrates and interprets the public's
online conversation around each presidential candidate. Brandwatch's
live visualization will allow anyone to
witness the
public
social media reaction to every aspect of a modern day presidential
campaign. (+)
Project at the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University..."a team of researchers investigating the impact of automated computer scripts–computational propaganda–on public life. This work includes analysis of how tools like social media bots are used to manipulate public opinion by megaphoning or repressing political content in various forms: disinformation, hate speech, fake news, political harassment, etc."
Public
Echoes
Of
Rhetoric
In
America
(PEORIA)
Project
The Graduate School of Political Management, in
partnership with Zignal
Labs, launched this project in an effort to "quantify how voters
react to campaign messages." The PEORIA Project released its
first report on May 28, 2015 focusing on the eight candidates who had
declared at that time (+).
this is old but it'll make you think.
Digital IQ Index® seeks to provide an actionable
metric for digital competence--"a robust tool to diagnose digital
strengths and weaknesses and help organizations prioritize incremental
investment in digital." The methodology considers an
organization's website, digital marketing, social media, and mobile.
Internet Archive: Political TV
Ad Archive
"The Political TV Ad Archive
collects political TV ads in selected markets across key states in the
2016 elections, unlocking the metadata underneath and highlighting
quality journalism to provide journalists, civic organizations,
academics, and the general public with reliable information on who is
trying to influence them and how."
Stanford
University: Political Communication Lab
Museum
of the Moving Image: The Living Room Candidate
ClickZ
Rhetorica-Dr.
Andrew R. Cline
"A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that uses
the power of the
Internet to catalyze greater government openness and transparency, and
provides new tools and resources for media and citizens, alike." Ad Hawk (+)
Brendan Brown has put together this archive of Trump tweets from May 4, 2009 to the present.
Cabletelevision
Advertising
Bureau
Television Bureau of Advertising