Cable Television Advertising Wins Local Election – A Success Story

Jul 16
07:40

2010

Scott Perreault

Scott Perreault

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Winning an election requires a major time investment, or does it? With properly developed low cost political commercials and micro targeted media placement on local cable, winning just became a lot easier at the local level.

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Bruce Pomer had served on the Sacramento California Democratic Central Committee for many years. For business reasons he opted to leave his committee post.  In 2010 he found himself with time and desire to return to the committee. This is an elected position. In the past Bruce had organized his local campaign in the same template as most local campaigns across America. Yard signs,Cable Television Advertising Wins Local Election – A Success Story Articles flyers, door knocking and phone calls. Because of this past experience, Bruce was in a unique position to judge the effectiveness of creating a political television commercial and using spot cable that was micro targeted to his specific voters. In this election, six of fifteen candidates on the ballot would be elected. In the spring of 2010 Bruce entered the race. He left the remainder of the work to our political media production team and media buyer. No yard signs, no door knocking, nothing. Just cable television advertising. The pressure was on our team to succeed.

As one of the only high quality – low cost political media companies assisting candidates across the United States, my team created a professional commercial for only $499. No need to spend thousands for an effective message.

The message was simple. Bruce was in the fifth position on the ballot. He needed to motivate Democrats to vote in an off year election, he needed to establish name recall and he needed to ask for their vote. The commercial was well received.

Bruce wrote to a note to me saying, "Nice work on the commercial. Everybody liked it. I mean everybody, not one bad comment. I have to say your response to my inquiries has been superb. One more reason for me to recommend you for future work."  

Bruce’s media placement was targeted to Democrats. With the most recent research overlaying political voting records, political donations and census information with cable television viewership, we were able to reach his specific demographic by age, party affiliation (Independent, Republican or Democrat) and sex (male or female). There is very little guesswork anymore. A political advertising agency works with data different than a traditional agency or consultant. Micro targeting has leveled the playing field for candidates in all races. Every candidate can afford to advertise on television.

While yard signs, door knocking and door flyers are important in local races, decreasing the budget on these items and allocating funds for a week or two of spot cable television will make a big difference. Television adds credibility to a campaign, energizes volunteers and motivates voters.

In June 2010 the results of Bruce’s experiment were in. He figured with a two-week television campaign, investing only a few thousand dollars and the tough competition, that sixth place would be a success. The top six vote getters were elected. Bruce ended up in fourth. He returned to the committee. He was so impressed with the results of spot cable he is telling all of his political associates. The word is spreading. Cable television in a local election is very effective and affordable, when properly implemented.