Hey kids, long time no see — whew, it’s been a time down here in the e.politics bunker the past three weeks, with major projects demanding serious attention at the day job, a little love for old clients at night, and a few thousands words due to ClickZ‘s Kate Kaye for a project she’s putting together. Plus a trip across the mighty Atlantic for a consulting gig…and some sad news too, but we’ll cover that just a bit later.
But tonight, you can get your fresh dose of e.pol “wisdom,” live and in real-time, too — I’ll be back on the air with Rick Morris and the guys at the FDH Lounge. We should go on around 8:30 Eastern tonight, and I’ll be diving into a conversation with Rich and Sopranos actor/author/playwright/Sopranos alum Carl Capotorto about the politics of health care reform! Should be a hoot-and-a-half, and you won’t want to miss it. Listen live here, and I’ll post the archived recording when they publish it later.
– cpd
March 31st, 2010
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And if you follow this link and sign in via Facebook, you can see just how much:
Veeeeeery clever, and a good extension of the personalized video idea that MoveOn.org (one of the sponsors of the site, along with Brave New Films and SEIU) used a few times in the run-up to the 2008 election and after. The details help make this example work (note the various pictures from your profile integrated in, plus the fact that a couple of your friends’ names appear on Glenn’s chalkboard, plus the frequent use of your hometown, plus the fact that your name is sometimes “hand-written”), but what really seals the deal is that the writing is funny as hell (the French version of Beck evoked a chortle).
As a follow-up, the site automatically sends you to a “tell-ten-friends” landing page once the video finishes playing, also giving you the option to post directly to Facebook. As another prominent conservative might say, “mission accomplished.” Thanks to Liz Pomper for making sure we didn’t miss this.
– cpd
March 10th, 2010
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This just in from the newly-announced Republican candidate for Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional seat (soon to be abandoned by Charlie Melancon), who clearly feels that a robust online presence is a selling point:
[Jeff] Landry launched his website for his race today in concert with his announcement. The site, which is available at www.LandryForLouisiana.com, uses all of the modern tools of communication, allowing voters to follow him via a Twitter feed, to choose the issues of concern to them through a Take Action page and links to Landry’s Facebook site. Despite just announcing his candidacy, Landry has already amassed almost 1,000 Facebook group followers. Landry’s video announcement is an extension of his online efforts.
I got Landry’s press release via email from someone on his staff, who very helpfully bolded the paragraph above in his message — good targeting, guys. In the wake of Campaign Obama 2008 it’s not surprising that a candidate would tout his internet-savviness, much in the same way that campaigns are careful to promote good fundraising numbers, but it’s still fascinating to watch the online world slip its tentacles more and more deeply into the political culture.
One other bit of fun: if you go to the front page of Landry’s site, watch his little video self “break the plane” and appear to walk out of the page to chat with you. Michael Steele apparently appeared in a similar online video overlay to some derision, but in this case it seems to work well — it’s startling and attention-grabbing on a political site, even to someone like me who’s jaded by 15 years of popups, popunders, mouseovers and other online advertising tricks. Nice work, guys.
Update: A couple of folks have pointed out previous campaign uses of the video popover, including this one from 2006 sent in by Matt Lockshin. Also, apparently Virginia’s Mark Warner used a similar effect on a site a couple of years ago.
– cpd
March 9th, 2010
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Be sure to catch this article from the February issue of Politics Magazine, particularly if you’re looking for examples of how even a relatively small online ad buy can reverberate across the media landscape. Late last year, longtime CNN host Lou Dobbs resigned due to pressure from a coalition of organizations, including media watchdogs and groups representing Latinos and immigrants. Lacking a huge budget, the organizers used a strategy planned to leverage their limited money into as much news coverage as possible. According to Josh Koster and Tyler Davis, online advertising gurus working with the coalition and the authors of the Politics Mag piece:
We would make an amazing ad to drive donations, yet too controversial for CNN to accept. If the campaign raising enough money to air the ad during “Latino in America” wasn’t enough to generate press, then the placing, the inevitable rejection and subsequent runs on other networks would. All the while, MediaMatters and Presente.org would run their own petition to drop Lou Dobbs, thus building a narrative that appreciated the commitment of the coalition.
(more…)
March 5th, 2010
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Here’s an idea from my NMS colleague Soren Dayton (R) — once you’ve built a core following for a Facebook Fan Page, try buying ads targeting the friends (and friends-of-friends) of your initial base. Since humans as a species tend to run with like-minded people, ads aimed at fans’ friends have a better chance of reaching someone interested in the same topics, plus limited targeting tends to drop the cost and increase the ROI for an ad buy. Overall, a clever way to leverage relationships, basically taking advantage of the same kind of network-based information-spread that lies behind viral marketing but with direct advertising. Plus, ads aimed at friends-of-fans can even mention that your mutual connection is already a Fan…peer pressure! You heard it here.
– cpd
March 4th, 2010
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