Media Credit: izanbar/Istockphoto
When the U.S. presidential election is the headline act, political marketing strategies reach their all-time highs.
Historically, interacting with the voters has been about getting your face out there: billboards, TV interviews, and Twitter and TiikTok.Let’s go briefly through this shift to see how the political ad strategies have evolved.
Looking Back: From Print to Television
Political ads are a form of political speech with a straightforward, essential task: to gain people's confidence and influence their vote, in the case of political campaign advertising.
Going back to the 19th century, when newspapers were the preeminent medium of communication, the majority of newspapers were either run by private businesses or political organizations. The National Intelligencer was one of the first newspapers that was designed to support one specific president, and the first of its kind to publish complete transcripts of meetings held in Congress. Published in Washington, D.C., from 1800 until 1870, the newspaper was highly biased toward Republicans and Thomas Jefferson.
After that, other newsgroups with similar publishing objectives would occasionally be incorporated to broaden the range of potential clients. The Albany Regency is one example of this, as it featured several politicians and newspapers in the state of New York, all with the shared goal of supporting the presidential administration of Martin Van Buren.
Another method that shaped the political advertising scene in this period was the lithograph, which was America’s preferred method for making mass-produced images. Nathaniel Currier and James M. Ives created the most popular campaign banners, the first of which was crafted in 1844 for Democrat James K. Polk. The lithograph was meant to go on leaflets to be handed out to voters. Soon, competitors Martin Van Buren and Zachary Taylor both hired Currier to create political banners for them.
During the 1920s, radio was becoming an increasingly important campaign tool in elections. On November 2, 1920, KDKA became the first American radio station to air an 18-hour marathon on the election. “The power of radio was proven when people could hear the results of the Harding-Cox presidential race before they read about it in the newspaper,” according to PBS.
Marketing Modernization in a Political Context
In the 1960s, the first mass media campaign was launched for the John F. Kennedy vs. Richard Nixon election. Until this point, mass media was used only for physical products and by companies.After that, political campaigns began following in the footsteps of the first one.
As branding started becoming more critical, politicians quickly shifted their attention to working on ‘branding’ themselves. Reagan was one of the first candidates to use this strategy; his presidential campaign was built on what many consider one of the most effective political campaign ads ever due to its direct, simple, optimistic message in the ad’s opening line:"It's morning again in America."
The ad featured a montage of images of Americans going to work through a calm, optimistic narration that suggested improvements to the U.S. economy due to Reagan's policies.
Moving away from an optimistic approach, the first time negative marketing was used was in the 1988 election between George Bush, Sr. and Michael Dukakis. The Revolving Door advertisement shows men walking in and out of prison as a narrator accuses Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis of being unable to deal with crimes. In a 1988 CBS News/New York Times poll, voters picked the ad that had the most significant effect on them that election cycle.
The Rise of Digital Efforts
As we entered the 2000s, social media was on the rise. Names and companies started considering shifting the ways of showing and maintaining their name in the market, but that wasn’t only the case in the field of physical products, as social media also called the attention of politicians and increased their options and abilities to reach a broader audience and provide interactive platforms for communication.
Obama’s campaign was marked by a change in many different aspects because of social media and the internet.. Obama's use of social media has been compared to Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy's adoption of the radio and television, and, for that, Obama has been known as "the first social media president."
As Barack Obama worked his way across the US to promote his candidacy, he had a little trick up his sleeve: Facebook. Through it, he strengthened his relationship with his pre-existing audience and expanded his reach to voters.
The main return station of this social media campaign was Obama’s website. The campaign has localized its digital messaging significantly, mainly on Facebook and Twitter, by adding state-by-state content that speaks directly to the audience.
Across platforms, Obama’s campaign published more than 614 posts during the two weeks examined compared with 168 for Romney, with twice as many blog posts on his website as Romney did and more than twice as many YouTube videos. Obama’s campaign allowed people to use web tools to connect to one another and to activate themselves on behalf of the Obama campaign by sharing and retweeting and fundraising.
On August 23, 2008, Obama’s team sent out a text to its 1 million subscribers announcing that Senator Joe Biden would be Obama’s running mate. Nielsen Mobile called it the largest mobile marketing event in the U.S. to date.
Goodstein added: “We had been using text messages very successfully through all the primaries and with the V.P. announcement, the media sort of caught onto what we had been doing all along and let the world know that we had and were going to have a serious text component to our campaign.”
According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, more than half the voting-age population used the internet to connect to the political process during an election cycle.
Changing the Role of the Campaign Website
After having the website as the main hero of a campaign for so long, its importance certainly has become leaner and less critical over the last decade or so.
In 2012, Obama’s campaign website offered opportunities to join 18 different groups, while visitors to Romney’s website could choose from nine different voter group pages. In 2008, both candidates offered around 20 such dedicated pages.
By 2016, social media had become central to candidates’ outreach to the public, while the website served as a hub for information and organization. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have become the new way not only to market political campaigns, but also for candidates and voters to interact. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center 2016 about half 51% of social networking users learned about the presidential election from social media.
During his campaign, Trump communicated an offering “value” of delivering change. His communication plan used the campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” to reach groups of people he wanted to reach, voters sharing similar lifestyles, world perceptions, and concerns about employment opportunities, as well as groups of voters who felt their basic need for public safety had been compromised.
Trump and Hillary Clinton used ads and public relations to build brand awareness. However, Trump used social media, particularly Twitter, to build relationships with voters and create buzz for his campaign.
Voting Gone Viral
In 2020, social media was used extensively in the presidential election, and TikTok got pulled into the game. Unlike Facebook and Google, TikTok doesn’t allow political ads, but it offers a different way to engage, as users can voice support their candidate. Moreover, TikTok can reveal which campaign messages resonate with its youthful audience.
A group account for a number of right-wing content creators called The Conservative Hype House started posting videos featuring an identifying code assigned by the official Trump campaign - "CHH" - that allows users to join its text-alert service.
In the meantime, Biden's campaign “BidenHQ” joined TikTok, posting its first-ever TikTok during the Super Bowl, with the caption "lol hey guys."The campaign explained to reporters that joining TikTok was important to get its message on every platform possible.
Before the election, TikTok developed a page in conjunction with Democracy Works, Elections Center, which is a landing page that users can visit when they search for election, and it’s a nonpartisan nonprofit that helps voters find accurate information online. It also includes links to voting resources and video explanations of how voting systems work.
The Harris-Trump Contest
Aiming toward the same political end goal, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump released campaign ads with completely different strategies.
Trump’s strategy for 2024 is to reach voters through videos that highlight the difference between his administration and other administrations, trying to create a narrative that his leadership is what Americans need for a better future. Whether you are or aren’t a Trump supporter, the video does evoke strong emotions and shows a solution for a better future. The other slide of Trump’s campaign is using audiovisuals to criticize his opponent.
Kamala Harris also has some strategies up her sleeve, focusing on what she sees as the issues that matter to her supporters, such as climate change and healthcare.
“We Choose Freedom” was her first political ad, which usesBeyoncé’s hit song “Freedom.” In it, she showcases her ideal America, featuring powerful imagery of her interactions with people.
“Fearless” is Harris’ second ad. She talks about herself, highlighting her time as a prosecutor who doubled down on drug companies and criminals.
Feeling inspired?
The evolution of political advertising is a reflection of broader societal and technological evolution. From humble beginnings in print media to the many ways one can reach their audience, political advertising continues to evolve enriching the dynamic between politics, technology, and culture.
If you’re looking for some inspiration, what we can learn from these campaign strategies could be the simple messaging and its effectiveness in reaching the target audience. In other words, brand names can be very important, but the value a product or an idea creates and offers to consumers, in the case here voters, is the center of effective marketing.
.png)
