Our friends at National Media put together a nice little viewership analysis – answering the question on why the NRSC would purchase a spot in Louisiana targeting Mary Landrieu on Duck Dynasty. Washington Post did the write up on it – it’s a “must read” in our opinion:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/08/22/red-america-blue-america-and-reality-tv/
– Team SHC
A lot’s been made and written on the digital gap between Republicans and Democrats – highlighted in last years’ races. Here’s a good update from the RNC meeting in Boston that covers the digital push within the party.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/16/gop-tech-andy-barkett_n_3769818.html
“Technologist gap” seems to be the new phrase. We have to look at it in stages, where the Democrats have had years to build up their programs. They are more data driven – they live it and they think it. Where as we may be able to catch up – close that gap – we also need to turn our thinking in that direction as well. Democrats constantly collect and build upon their data. For Republicans we need to ask ourselves: “what happened with the all the data – the ID calls, door-to-door/canvassing, etc. – from the top campaign you worked on last year? Did it go to a central database that other campaigns will use this year or next? Is kept within an internal campaign database that is constantly updated and appended? Democrats have a system for that – and that’s just the database. Doesn’t account for the modeling and then executing of data driven plans. Long way to go but it looks like the RNC is making progress with their recent push and hires.
– Team SHC
Good story in Roll Call today that looks at how ad campaigns could start earlier this cycle. Link is here is, worth checking out the full story:
There is an argument to be made that starting early is something competitive races need to consider as they lay out their campaign plan. Doesn’t necessarily mean spend more, it could mean spend the same but stretch it over a longer period. Why? From early voting to outside group spending flooding markets at the end; or from longer times to burn a message to persuadable windows closing sooner (voters tuning out earlier) – starting the dialogue with some of your key target groups may need to start earlier. Some groups may take longer to convince or you may see an opportunity to block your opponent from growing with certain segments. This is not to suggest all campaigns need to start in the spring. But as the Roll Call story points out, earlier may be an option that smart campaigns need to discuss.
– Team SHC
We hope to make this blog a little different. From time to time we will look to post some interest things we see going on in the political world. We’ll also look to highlight relevant stories and even some ads that we like… or maybe take issue with. Of course you can visit here to check out what we are working on and we hope to hear from you on what you’d like to see us focus on in this space.
– Team SHC
