Political Advertising Is Not Branding

There’s an election next week, but you already know that. We’ve been bombarded with TV ads, radio ads, flyers, mailers, text, and email spam for months. It all reaches a crescendo this weekend, but thankfully it will stop abruptly after next Tuesday. For voters in Virginia, political ads are an annual Fall tradition, as we get an election every…single…year.

Unlike a brand that needs a few customers every day, a politician needs all of his or her constituents to show up one day, election day. So the strategy for a political ad campaign is very similar to an event advertising strategy, or what I’ve dubbed as 3/3/3/3 marketing. You need to start ads 3 months before the event, then layer on new marketing strategies 3 weeks out, give the final push 3 days before, and then send them one last reminder 3 hours before the event kicks off. 3/3/3/3 is pretty effective.

By contrast, a B2B or B2C marketer needs a year-round strategy, with seasonal or time-related focus. That means a retailer might advertise consistently throughout the year and boost the efforts during the holiday season when people shop the most. A lawn care company, for example, might advertise year-round, but double spending and efforts April to October, while the grass is growing.

The other major difference between political ads and most brands is that smart companies focus on features and benefits. That is, if you buy brand X it will help you ____ and make you feel ____. Rarely do brands only focus on how terrible their competitors are. This really turns off consumers and makes the brand appear arrogant, self-serving, and mean-spirited. Most political ads nowadays tend to slam the “other guy/gal” and tell why you shouldn’t vote for them. Political ads are not branding.

Dirty political ads in American politics are nothing new. John Quincy Adams accused Andrew Jackson of adultery, murder, and cannibalism during the run for President in 1924. In the modern era, negative ads have been the norm since the 90s. As a result, politicians have universally low favorability ratings. The President, Vice President, and every candidate for the office has higher unfavorable ratings vs. favorable. Congress, as a whole, has only 17% approval from the American people. In 2001, that number was 84%.

Maybe someday we’ll see more civility in political ads, but I’m not betting on it. On Tuesday, everybody loses.