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.
Among the possibilities for paid media, depending on its budget, a campaign can run ads on broadcast or cable 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, 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 (or even a virtual billboard as the Obama campaign did in October 2008 on internet video games).1 Television continues to get the majority of campaign media spending, while direct mail and Internet also receive significant shares.2
In
terms of free media, a candidate may
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 on its website.3
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.5 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.6
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 parties7,
and
the
media are sifting through and reporting these messages or parts of them.
Notes
1. See also:
Ben Smith. "Twitter to launch political
advertising." Sept. 20, 2011. Politico.
Elizabeth Dwoskin. "Some candidates jump on Facebook campaign ad
tools. Sept. 26, 2011. SFGate.com.
Revolution
Messaging. "Mitt Romney is Latest Target of Political Text Message
Spam." Feb. 27, 2012 (press release).
2. Tom Edmonds, a Republican media strategist and former president of the American Association of Political Consultants, estimates 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).
3a. See: John Avlon.
"The End of TV Campaign Ads?"
Oct. 27, 2011. The
Daily
Beast.
b. A good example
of a free media action was the Romney campaign's 24 "We Did
Build This" events around the country on July 25, 2012. The Obama
campaign and Democrats organized a modest response. (1, 2)
4. Sasha Issenberg. "The Death of the
Hunch" May 22, 2012. Slate.
5. "2012 United States Presidential Election" Know Your Meme.
6. On July 31, 2012 both the Obama and Romney
campaigns announced apps. The Romney campaign
launched its Mitt
Events
app on
Sept. 12, 2012.
7. "The 2012 General Election Ad Campaign in Colorado and Virginia" gives a sense of the ad ecosystem in a couple of battleground states.
RESOURCES (2008 page)
techPresident
"techPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej
and Micah
L.
Sifry
as a crosspartisan group blog covering how the 2008 presidential
candidates were using the web, and vice versa, how content generated by
voters affected the campaign. With the 2008 campaign ended,
techPresident's coverage is expanding to cover everything from how
President Obama is using the web, to how campaigns at all levels are
going online, to how voters are responding and creating their own
user-generated content."
"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."
4president.org
Stanford
University: Political Communication Lab
Museum
of the Moving Image: The Living Room Candidate
"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 (+) |
Political Ad Sleuth
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.
When you recommend, share, and create content you
impact others. Your
Klout Score measures that influence on a scale of 1 to 100.
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