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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Media Strategies in an Evolving Media World

Digital Politics show last week with Chris Nolan, Founder Spot-On and Amy Gershkoff, Founder Changing Targets Media was filled with interesting insights from recent campaigns including a local race in CA and the Bill Halter Senate race in Arkansas.

E-Voter Institute’s 5th Annual Survey of Voter Expectations has been completed and we are working on the analysis with HCD Research.  Watch for notice about the August webinar when we will be releasing the results.

Political Ads, Disclosure and Creative Ways to Find Supporters
Segment 1 with Chris Nolan

Segment 2 with Chris Nolan

Media Mix and Media Habits
Segment 3 with Amy Gershkoff

Segment 4 with Amy Gershkoff

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Super Primary Day

Digital Politics Internet radio show on June 8 focused on the primary in California as well as those around the country.  We talk about women candidates, recent polls and the impact of social media buzz on campaigns as well as on perceptions of the Gulf oil crisis.

My guests were Stan Greenberg, Chairman and CEO, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, Glenn Kessler, CEO, HCD Research, and Alan Silberberg, Silberberg Innovations.

Segment 1 Polling and Predictions

With Stan Greenberg, top Democratic pollster

Segment 2 Social Media Buzz

With Glenn Kessler, HCD Research

Segment 3 Social Media and Local Campaigns

With Alan Silberberg, Silberberg Innovations

Segment 4 Civic Engagement

With Alan Silberberg, Silberberg Innovations

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Attorney General Race in CA

Guest on the Digital Politics podcast today is Alberto Torrico, Assemblyman from the CA 20th State district, Majority Leader in the California State Assembly, and candidate for Attorney General in 2010.  Alberto is using Facebook to get attention for his Assembly Ballot 656 Fair Share for Fair Tuition initiative as well as for building coalitions and raising money for his campaign.

Alberto, with roots in the Hispanic and Asian communities, is a modern candidate currently representing parts of Silicon Valley and the East Bay.  His web site includes pages in Spanish and Chinese. I think this campaign is a great example of using social media, email, online ads, search, and traditional web elements to reach voters in a state wide race.  In a crowded primary, will social media engagement make the difference?

Listen to this interview with Assemblyman Alberto Torrico

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Holiday Spirit and Online Activism

Guest today on the Digital Politics podcast was Steve Daigneault, Vice President, M+R Strategic Services talking about challenges advocacy groups face raising money in tough economic times.  Steve emphasized that the most successful messages are those that are simple and seem relevant to the outside world as much as to the needs of the organization.  He also notes those advocates willing to take more chances with messaging and digital media are showing the most progress.

Steve understands grassroots organizing and particularly the power of email.  I do challenge him a bit on the definition of ‘volunteer’ and how advocacy groups are dealing with the social media world.

Check out this discussion with an experienced online strategist.

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Social Platforms for Pursuing Activists Online

Guest on the Digital Politics podcast this week was Peter Slutsky, Strategic Relations Manager at Ning. This privately held company founded in 2004 by Marc Andreessen and Gina Bianchini was ahead of it’s time.  With tools to set up custom branded social net sites, political candidates and advocacy groups can quickly deploy tools to sign up volunteers, support a field operation, and motivate supporters.  The growth of social networks has changed the expectations of activists and Ning is seeing increased interest from political and advocacy organizations to use their tools in innovative ways.

Ning has recently rolled out virtual gift-giving functionality.  Stay with the interview to the end to hear how Peter thinks virtual gifts, prizes, and rewards will find a place in motivating contributors and volunteers.  Disruptive technology like Ning will be one of the solutions that will influence the political landscape in 2010.

Listen to this interview with a political insider who really understands the emerging social platform world.

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Paranormal Activity

As a Halloween treat I interviewed Jordan Glazier, CEO, Eventful, about his work with the movie Paranormal Activity.  This movie was made in San Diego on a modest budget of $15,000 and has turned into an underground horror hit thanks to efforts by Paramount and Eventful, also a San Diego based company.

Using the Eventful web site, fans were able to demand that the movie be shown in their town and then were able to demand that the movie get released nationally.   Since it was released about a month ago, the movie has generated ticket sales of $62.5 million through last weekend and is expected to get another boost from Halloween this weekend.  Jordan relates his surprise at how quickly this demand campaign took off.

What does this have to do with politics?  Eventful was used in some 2008 political races as a way to determine where a townhall meeting should take place.  The more people get used to having their demands met, the more they will expect to be able to voice their opinions about actions taken by leaders as well as rock bands and movie studios.

The sound quality of this interview is not good as Jordan was on his mobile phone but I think the background noise is somehow appropriate given the discussion about this scary movie.

Happy Halloween

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Politics as Contact Sport

Guests on the Digital Politics podcast this week are Colin Delany, founder and chief editor, epolitics.com, and Ben Chodor, president, Stream 57.

Can webcasts help candidates reach a broader audience?  Can they provide an easier way to moderate a public forum than in a live townhall meeting? How can social nets and Twitter help drive attention to candidate appearances?

Listen to this explanation of webcasts and views from 2 experts in the business of helping clients communicate with their constituents using web tools.

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Influencing Public Opinion

Guest this week on the Digital Politics podcast was Paul Goodwin, partner, Goodwin Simon Strategic Research talking about rapid response and how candidates and advocates can influence public opinion.  We also talk about President Obama’s speech last night on health care reform and the rapid response from all interested parties.

Paul points out that there are many more ways for people to get information which might influence their opinions, which makes it increasingly hard to respond to myths and untruths.   He also suggests that social nets are a proxy for the old face-2-face techniques candidates used in the past.

Listen to this thoughtful discussion.

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Figures Don’t Lie

Digital Politics podcast this week features guest Shabbir Safdar, founder of Virillion.  Shabbir talks about how the true metric of success is the real world result of an advocacy or political campaign and not just how many online friends or followers on Twitter.  He made me promise to stop using the term ‘viral’ in 2010 as he contends that viral is now “baked into” the online world and that is just the way it works.  I can start doing that now as I totally agree with him.  Shabbir has always been ahead of the curve.

Check out this insightful conversation which also includes Shabbir’s 3 rules for rapid response.

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