The election is in 250+ days. Want to know what’s really happening? Follow the money…
Like Kareem Abdul Jabbar shooting a skyhook, or Steph Curry pulling up from 3, political reporters have a "go to" move when they need to file a political story.
Just report on the latest poll.
We see it all the time in campaign season, and it drives a lot of discussion on who's "up" and who is "down" at any moment of a campaign. It’s a layup.
But dig deeper and you can really see what's happening in a campaign, because just like any successful marketing effort winning in politics is about execution.
Thanks to social media giants looking to add “transparency” as they rake in tons of $$ from campaigns, you can go online and find out who is spending what, where, and exactly how much. To the penny.
I worked up two charts based on this data showing top political and advocacy spenders on Meta (Facebook, Instagram) in the past 30 days. As you can see, folks are spending.
Let’s drill a bit deeper and just look at the biggest political campaign spenders (combining multiple committees). The Biden campaign is miles ahead of the others with well over $2.5M on just these two platforms, while we see CA Senate race candidates and a few others also making significant expenditures.
So where is Donald Trump? His campaign spent a combined $176K on Meta, making him the 32nd leading political spender on Meta during the period.
Some pundits will say that massive legal fees are eating up all his campaign funds but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Next week, I’ll be asking some analysts for their thoughts on the Trump spending strategy.
In the meantime, what do you think is happening here?
A hugely important effort, with a suitably serious name, although hard to read a press release with a straight face that includes X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino on how the company “has a responsibility to safeguard free and fair elections.”
New York Times, Jan. 25, 2024
Meanwhile, a reporter from the tech pub Gizmodo reported how easy it was to get Google Gemini and ChatGPT to “create deceptive AI election content in just minutes.”
I asked my friend Claude (iykyk) for thoughts on the article on hacking AI for election activities. Its response was on point.
Then again Claude has its very own Constitution which declares that “above all the assistant's response should be wise, peaceful, and ethical.”
“This exposes some vulnerabilities in AI chatbots that need urgent attention before 2024 elections. The companies involved need much more robust safeguards and monitoring against not just generating but spreading manipulative political content, foreign and domestic. The stakes for democracy are real, demanding sincere responsibility.”
- Claude
We’re right there with you bud! ✊
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Meanwhile, AI brings new meaning to 'killer copy'
While everyone in the creative community is buzzing about the impact of Sora on the ad world and Hollywood (actual image below) these massive advancements comes on the heels of a study this week showing that AI-assisted copy writing was more effective than human-written ads.
The study conducted by the AI firm Pencil found that AI-generated content lightly edited by humans had a 26% more effective click-through rate than content that humans entirely wrote with no AI intervention.
Granted, it was just Facebook ad copy for a Singaporean beauty client but let’s face it, it’s only a matter of time before we’re talking Super Bowl spot.
OK, I get it already. We’re all screwed. Now show me some ads!
It’s sort of strange living in a solid blue (or red) state, right? You’d almost think a presidential campaign wasn’t happening — unless you missed nonstop coverage of a certain candidate’s endless legal woes, or got caught in traffic on LA’s 405 freeway when the other guy came into town in pouring rain to raise massive bucks.
Well, the spots are running. At least for some candidates….here’s what you’re missing.
Thoughts: Conventional yet powerful. Does it help with Biden’s biggest weakness? Let’s just say it doesn’t exactly scream “I get the kids” but it is effective. My question is: how much do voters care?
Thoughts: Nikki Haley goes pretty hard on Trump in South Carolina. Pundits see this race as a foregone conclusion but expectations are everything. This ad does a nice job of framing the GOP primary as a real choice, but in MAGA world “choices” tend to be pretty one-sided.
Thoughts: More from Haley here. She continues makes the case vs Trump to GOP voters but the spot pulls its punch. Watch this and the Biden ad and you can easily see what a general election matchup would look like between these two. Very conventional.
Thoughts: Not exactly conventional.
Subtly titled “Haley: The Weak Elitist” and using an uncomfortable image of Mitt Romney standing close behind Nikki Haley, this spot does not pull its punch. What is also interesting is the platform it appears on. Unlike the spots above which run on broadcast TV and You Tube (which is also why they can be seen in full on this site) this ad is on the video platform Rumble. so you need to click here to view.
Rumble.com's audience is 64.84% male and 35.16% female and its largest age group of visitors are 25-34 year olds. It bills itself as a video platform “immune to cancel culture” and seems to be related in some way to Trump-owned Truth Social. 🤔
Thoughts: The latest from the progressive political action committee Vote Vets hits Trump and the GOP hard for alleged coziness with Russia. Interesting here to see a similar approach (though more aggressive, and extremely busy) than Biden’s attack on Trump on the same issue. Which is better? You tell me.
What’s Next?
California primary day is less than two weeks away, so expect to see massive amounts of ads as the candidates maneuver for second place and a runoff in November. South Carolina is in a few days, so keep an eye on those numbers. There *may* be some surprises although don’t bet on it.
We will keep an eye out on things for you. Until then — happy advertising!
PS - Share any ads or content (good, bad, or awful) here.
Also on the lookout for contributors. If you have something to say about the ad world and Election ‘24 reach out.
