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Effectiveness of Online Political Ads

Digital Politics podcasts from August 10 2010

Interview with Michael Bassik, Sr. VP Digital, Global Strategy Group, on increasing awareness and favorability using online political ads and social media. Case study on the Chris Kelly primary race for California Attorney General–came in second but the web ads increased effectiveness of television ads– and tactics used in the Dan Malloy primary campaign for Governor of Connecticut which he won the night of this interview. Download the PDF of the the report: Case Study: Effectiveness of Online Political Advertising

Interview Part 1 with Michael Bassik
Interview Part 2 with Michael Bassik

Talking with Gary Bivings, The Bivings Group, on engaging voters and driving political messages through social media particularly in the Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown California race for governor.
Interview with Gary Bivings

Gary Bivings on web video, Facebook and the Senate Republican primary race in Colorado between Ken Buck and Jane Norton which Buck won that evening.
Interview with Gary Bivings

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Mobile Apps for Civic Engagement

Guests on the first Digital Politics podcast of the new year are Kurt Daradics and David Kralik from CitySourced powered by FreedomSpeaks.  With all the buzz about apps in general, it is useful to find those apps which can really have an impact for an individual, local community, nationally and globally.  Kurt and David talk about how civic engagement is the new “green” and that we are just beginning to see the impact when mobile is combined with the social media dimension and physical location identification.

Another example of how all politics is local as well as the potential of disruptive technology to change all of our lives.

Listen to this thought provoking preview of government in the new decade.

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About Face: The Dramatic Impact of the Internet on Politics and Advocacy

The new E-Voter Institute book About Face: The Dramatic Impact of the Internet on Politics and Advocacy, Karen A.B. Jagoda (E-Voter Institute Press, 2009) has just been published.  This is the second in a series of books about how the Internet is impacting the way political and advocacy campaigns are being run and how the web is changing the expectations of voters. This book with contributions from 20 industry insiders will stand the test of time.  It is a mixture of optimism about the use of the Internet in campaigns with a strong element of realism about how hard it is to effectuate change in the process.

With the results of the 2009 elections today, we now see that strategies and lessons learned in 2008 may or may not work in 2010 to say nothing about 2012.  Our new book includes best practices, case studies and research that can help political strategists more clearly see the Internet options for reaching and persuading voters.

The E-Voter book is available as a trade paperback and eBook.   Check out the ISBN information and links on the E-Voter Institute site to order the book. We have set up a Twitter account and Facebook page so follow us and become a fan. Please help us promote the book and let the community know what you think about our conclusions.  You can also leave comments on this posting.  We will be highlighting the other authors over the next weeks and we all welcome questions and comments.

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California Campaigns 2010

Guest on the Digital Politics podcast this week was Francine Busby, candidate for Congress in 2010 in the 50th district in San Diego.  This is the old Duke Cunningham district currently represented by Brian Bilbray.  Francine says that the district went for Obama in 2008 and that both the DCCC and RCCC will be paying close attention to this one.  Not expecting any Primary competition, Francine anticipates that all of the Democratic candidates for CA governor will be knocking on her door to get her help in this district with an unusually high number of voters registered as Choose Not to Declare.

Along with the possibility of the same sex marriage initiative getting back on the 2010 ballot, to say nothing of the fact that the State is broke, I predict that unprecedented amounts of money will be spent on California campaigns between now and election day 2010.  It also looks like the war will be fought online like never before.  Francine put off the recent announcement of her candidacy for a week because the web site wasn’t ready.

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Cyrus Krohn

When we last heard from Cyrus he was saying good-bye to the Republican National Committee (see RNC-YA post below from March 5).  On Monday, May 4, Cyrus will be reporting back for duty at Microsoft where he was from 1996-2005 in various positions including publisher of Slate.com.  This guy obviously likes a good challenge! We look forward to his continuing input to E-Voter Institute and wish him all the best. Read more.

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RNC-YA

Washington, DC — Two years ago I left a prominent technology company in Silicon Valley to join the Republican National Committee as e-campaign director to elect the next Republican president. We lost, but there was more than a software glitch that contributed to our November 2008 defeat. Now that I’ve submitted my resignation, I have a few things to say and people to thank.

First, the perception that the GOP is woefully behind online and can’t catch-up is the blog-flogging of political simpletons.

It’s common knowledge now that Republicans held a technological edge until the Democrats improved what the GOP initiated years earlier. Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean confirmed this when he said (at the National Press Club on Nov. 5, 2008) that he modeled his party’s 2009 comeback by copying the RNC’s sophisticated database and online outreach efforts from the Web 1.0 world.

Change comes quickly online and the tide will turn again in favor of the GOP, once we hone our message and harness emerging technologies. To do that, we must match Democrats, programmer-for-programmer. Regrettably, we’re in terribly short supply of professionals focused solely on building platforms and applications. This is where we got dot bombed in 2006 and 2008. Maybe we should start providing computer science scholarships in exchange for a commitment to serve our party?

Yes, we have generational and geographical hurdles stunting our digital spurt. The former will be solved actuarially and the latter the Democrats will solve for us by upgrading the grid. Thanks for the help Sen. Mark Warner!  Where the GOP can boast is that we have tweeters and bloggers in droves–although their impact remains unclear.

The RNC made some notable gains during the past election cycle. I soon realized our online network was fragmented, our list of e-mail addresses was minimal and we lacked innovation. Today, we host 31 state parties on our website platform, and our e-mail universe has grown from 1.8 million to 12 million addresses. Based on our voter file matches with major web publishers’ databases, we can advertise online directly to 40 million-plus voters. We outperformed the DNC in several areas, accruing twice as many Facebook friends and producing our 2008 Party Platform using the internet. There is a lot more work to do, but the foundation has been laid for new faces to build upon.

The community of online political activists has grown considerably since 1998 when the e-Voter Institute conducted the ground-breaking study on the effectiveness of the internet. The study documented how Peter Vallone used online advertising against then-Gov. George Pataki. The George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet also produced invaluable research. In 2004, IPDI’s study, “Putting Online Influentials to Work” served as a precursor to the role Web 2.0 would play in the 2008 presidential election cycle.

Cyrus Krohn, e-Voter Institute Board Member

Full Disclosure: I’m on the Board of Advisors of the e-Voter Institute and George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet.

I’d like to express appreciation to my former colleagues and others who had the greatest impact on my tour.

Former RNC Chairman Mike Duncan and Chief of Staff Anne Hathaway hired me and I’m forever grateful.  Chairman Duncan’s appreciation and understanding of the importance of technology allowed our staff to flourish under difficult circumstances.

Collaborating with Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Kevin McCarthy to create an interactive 2008 Republican Party Platform using the internet was a first for the nation and my proudest moment.

Karl Rove helped me architect an online strategy that contributed to victories, including those of Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Rep. Dave Reichert. Rep. John Boehner was kind enough to offer me the floor at the 2009 House Republican Leadership Conference where we set the stage for a technology revival with valuable input from Rep. Eric Cantor and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

My staff was one of the most creative and dedicated teams I’ve worked with. Brian, Todd, Liz, James & Eric - you all have bright futures and I’d be honored to work with you—or for you—again. We all miss the late Mike Connell.

It wasn’t all work and partisan partying. President and Mrs. Bush were gracious hosts to my family. I don’t know how I made the invitation list for so many of President Obama’s inaugural parties but I must be in competition for the Democrat’s favorite Republican.  Thanks to my long-time friend Arianna Huffington for inviting me to the Huffington Post Inaugural Ball where I met Bob Weir, one of my musical idols. Jerry Rafshoon’s party for my mentor Michael Kinsley’s new book was an intoxicating evening.

I wish RNC Chairman Steele and his new crew the best in 2010.

After taking some time off and relocating my family to the GOP safe-haven of Seattle, I plan to build new online applications for the person best positioned to win in 2012.

Onward & Upward,

@cyrusk

Cyrus Krohn is former e-Campaign Director of the Republican National Committee. Contact him by visiting http://cyruskrohn.com

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