politicaladvertising.co.uk

15/12/2022

🎯 Welcome to another episode of Target Talk.

The Democrats have shared one of the audiences they built for online advertising in the 2022 midterms.

On the left hand side is the importance of the district.

Does the voter live in a battleground state? Is the voter eligible to vote in a tight Congressional race? Is the voter able to vote in a close legislative race?

On the right hand side is the likelihood of the voter turning out (generally) and voting Democrat (specifically) in the 2022 midterms.

In October / November, if your demographics suggested you would support Democrats, vote in midterm elections and be pro-choice - and you answered yes to at least one of the above three district questions - you would have been bombarded with ads.

13/12/2022

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the impact on content writers of ChatGPT, a prototype artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI.

I was recently asked, prior to the launch of ChatGPT, to explain the concept of a political brand. This is the exact sort of question that ChatGPT can answer.

In future, instead of taking the trouble to research and write something myself, should I just use ChatGPT? Would readers notice or value the difference?

I’ve posted my answer and ChatGPT’s answer to the question to politicaladvertising.co.uk.

Let me know if I should be letting the robots take over and go quietly into the night or if I should continue plugging away (for another few years at least).

30/10/2022

In The Sunday Times today there’s a nicely illustrated piece on the six key voter segments in the UK, as outlined by James Johnson of JL Partners, who ran polling for former Prime Minister Theresa May.

The two groups that Labour under Keir Starmer are focusing on are (1) “Labour’s working class” who in the 2019 general election voted Conservatives in significant numbers and (2) “Conservative considerers” who the Tories won in 2019.

Labour have built good leads amongst both groups. Keeping hold of the voters they’ve won over and ideally growing their share, as the new Conservative leader and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak beds in, is the political marketing challenge both now and until the next general election.

11/08/2022

👻 a very haunting .us advert with a primary target audience of 1 whose name begins with a D.

29/07/2022

c.$1 BILLION worth of midterm election ads have been booked between August 1 and November 8.

97% percent of the total $958M in pre-booked spending is reserved in Senate ($453M), House ($300M), and Gubernatorial ($175M) races.

Democrats have spent $535M and Republicans have spent $423M.

Democrat candidates are outspending Republicans.

Only 2 GOP candidates have spent in the top 20 candidates.

Issue groups have spent at a greater rate than candidates, with PACs outspending candidate campaigns $827M to $131M.

The highest spending issue groups are large PACs spending on Senate races.

Over half of the pre-booked money is scheduled for October.

$1.6B has been spent in primary election advertising thus far.

The Georgia senate race is the most expensive.

Huge thanks to .impact for all this amazing data and commentary. Incredibly valuable indeed.

26/07/2022

This is totally absurd, but I think it works.

Pro-abortion rights advocates Mothers Against Greg Abbott have released an ad criticising Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his staunch anti-abortion views in advance of the November midterm elections.

The ad features a pregnant woman and her spouse being informed by a doctor that their unborn child has a "catastrophic brain defect" and won't live after birth and then in a bizarre twist, the doctor calls up Greg Abbott to get his view on what decision the couple are allowed to make.

The tone is deliberately absurd and helps land the message of the ad - that anti-abortion laws make no sense.

I can imagine the comedy aspect will bother plenty of people, but probably the majority of those offended would already be fervently anti-abortion?

The controversial nature of the content means that it has, of course, gone massively viral.

24/07/2022

Rishi Sunak has released his first batch of Meta ads and he’s gone big on Brexit.

Sunak supported Vote Leave in the 2016 EU referendum whilst his opponent Liz Truss backed Remain.

Using contrast advertising is a smart play from Sunak.

A candidate that is trying to cut a polling deficit needs to find ways to slow the opposition’s momentum.

Highlighting a negative of your opponent in a way that puts your candidate in a positive light is a good way to do this.

10/07/2022

At least nobody can accuse of spending a long time plotting his campaign…

He’s deployed disgraceful graphic design and is reusing his leadership video - with literally zero edits made - from 2019.

It’s a shame to see him running to be the next PM so half-heartedly.

10/07/2022

Rishi’s campaign launch video is fairly standard candidate bio stuff.

It’s overly long, as is always the case with these things, but the production values are good (he didn’t start this on Wednesday…).

The messaging is a little incoherent though. Lots of THINGS that don’t add up or mutually reinforce each other. And his tone and expression at the end is weird & awkward.

That said, I strongly suspect this will be one of the higher quality launch videos we’ll see this leadership cycle.

28/06/2022

Joe Biden and the Democratic Party are showing signs of trying to turn November’s mid-term elections into a referendum on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs Wade.

In their latest batch of Meta ads the Democrats are using the issue of abortion rights to fundraise.

One advert calls for cash to “support efforts to elect more leaders to defend choice”.

This is a smart move.

Polling by YouGov suggests that a majority of voters disapprove of the ruling and provides evidence that it’s not purely split along party lines.

83% of Democrats disapprove of the ruling, along with 62% of Independents, and a not insignificant number of Republican voters (22%).

But the biggest electoral impact will likely be on the turnout of people who usually vote Democrat but were previously considering sitting out the mid-terms this year.

As fewer people vote in tend to vote in mid-terms, research suggests that the turnout levels of existing supporters can play a bigger factor in the outcome of mid-term congressional elections than it can at Presidential elections.

YouGov polling shows that the issue has made 50% of Democratic Party voters more likely to vote.

Even Donald Trump is apparently concerned that the strategy is likely to be successful - he’s reported as saying in private that overturning Roe v Wade will be “bad for Republicans”.

01/06/2022

❌👑 anti-monarchy billboards by have gone up around the UK ahead of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

22/05/2022

Victory for 🏆 The big themes in their campaign were the economy, healthcare and the character of the incumbent PM Scott Morrison.

20/05/2022

On this day in 1963 Labour ran their first ever newspaper advert, which featured the end line “Let’s go with Labour and we’ll get things done” via .history

18/05/2022

Pestminster Control by

The Women’s Equality Party conducted a stunt in Westminster today where they dressed up as Pest Control to highlight the problem of sexual misconduct in the Houses of Parliament.

The recent examples of Pestminster were summarised by Politico today:

“An unnamed Conservative MP was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of r**e and sexual assault offenses, plunging the Tory party into further turmoil over the ongoing Pestminster scandal that has rocked Westminster….

…Tory sleaze disaster: The number of politicians in Westminster who have been accused of improper conduct ranging from sexual harassment to r**e in the last few years is frankly astonishing. It is impossible to escape the reality that the majority of those involved are Conservative politicians.

Imran Ahmad Khan: Found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. Resigned his Wakefield seat, which will see a by-election on June 23. Khan was defended by fellow Tory MP Crispin Blunt, who announced his intention to stand down days later.

Neil Parish: Admitted twice watching p**n in the House of Commons chamber. Resigned his seat in Tiverton, which will also have a by-election on the same day.
David Warburton: Suspended by the Tory party over co***ne and sexual harassment allegations reported by the Sunday Times.

Rob Roberts: Given his Tory membership back despite sexually harassing a staff member, although he still sits in the Commons as an independent.
Andrew Griffiths: The former Tory MP was last year found to have r**ed and physically abused his wife. Despite the allegations against him, he had the Tory whip reinstated by Theresa May in an attempt to help save her premiership.

Charlie Elphicke: Was jailed for two years after being found guilty of sexually assaulting three women. Natalie Elphicke, his wife and successor in Parliament, remains a Tory Party vice chair despite signing a witness statement accusing the victim of lying.”

13/05/2022

Lovely design work for the successful Wandsworth Labour campaign in the recent local elections.

The work was done by Open Eye - a London-based creative studio.

05/05/2022

Polls are open 7am-10pm. Only the Lib Dems have featured their leader in their morning GOTV social post.

02/05/2022

It’s 25 years since New Labour won its first general election under the leadership of Tony Blair.

has published a report — Lessons from a Landslide — written by .history & which reflects on what it took to win and makes recommendations to Keir Starmer and his team.

Link to full publication in my stories.

11/04/2022

Lovely design work for Lewisham Labour Party by .

The work has been nicely articulated by the designer as “a modern take on Labour retro design with a vibrant twist”.

26/01/2022

“Home of the brave” is a nice idea. But there’s so much guff in the middle that it doesn’t land. Will add this to my extensive list of “political ads that didn’t need to be 2 minutes long”. Thanks to for sharing.

15/01/2022

🍺🎉🍾 There have been several new revelations about revelry at No.10 Downing St which broke lockdown rules. This news coverage has led to a glut of online content criticising the Conservatives.

Here’s three that particularly caught my eye.

1) whilst I am generally bored to tears by pastiches of “Labour isn’t working” this one is a rare example where - like the original - there is a clever interplay between a double-meaning headline that is brought to life by the visual. By crested in a competition run by One Minute Briefs.

2) “the party’s over” by is wonderfully bleak. The minimalist style and dark blue tones make the viewer feel a sense of resignation about the situation and encourages the feeling that it’s closing time on Boris Johnson’s premiership.

3) this is an official advert. By highlighting the sheer number of parties that have taken place at No.10 Downing St it encourages the sense that this is a damaging culture created by the Prime Minister, rather than a one off incident that could be blamed on staff, quickly forgiven and eventually forgotten.

31/10/2021

🌎 begins today in Glasgow.

The aim of the conference is to accelerate action that could slow climate change and lots of nation states, political parties, pressure groups, charities and people have something to say on the topic.

I’m sure there will be lots of superb campaigns throughout the conference, please do share any that catch your eye (or that you are working on!).

Here’s a small selection of work that I’ve seen so far.

13/10/2021

🖕A wonderfully potty-mouthed election ad.

The Republican candidate for New Jersey Governor Jack Ciattarelli is accused of being out of touch with voters because he supported a ban on swearing in his town.

Very amusing ad by New Jersey Democrats for governor election on 2nd November.

H/t for sharing.

05/10/2021

Political advertisers have bought media space in Manchester to target media, policy makers and politicians attending the Conservative Party annual conference. Which is your favourite and why?

23/09/2021

Chi A. Ossé is the Democratic nominee for the NYC Council in the 36th district boldly using a colour more commonly associated with Republicans in some beautifully designed advertising

20/09/2021

It’s polling day in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a snap general election 2 years ahead of schedule. The Liberal Party leader is currently leading a minority government and is seeking to win a 3rd term in office in the hope that it will come with a majority. Trudeau called the election with a lead in the polls but over the 5 week campaign things have tightened significantly....

http://politicaladvertising.co.uk/2021/09/20/canadas-snap-general-election/

It’s polling day in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a snap general election 2 years ahead of schedule. The Liberal Party leader is currently leading a minority government and is seekin…

12/09/2021

As part of a series of events which mark the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the Stop the War Coalition, a new exhibition called “No!” is running until 19th Sept in London.

It provides a brief history of the Stop the War movement and shows some of the remarkable creativity that this protest movement unleashed.

11/09/2021

🔸the Liberal Democrats are targeting the seats of 20 Conservative MPs who backed the recent rise in National Insurance with attack adverts.

This is a good ex*****on of the Lib Dem’s strategy of trying to win Tory “blue wall” seats.

It’s a timely attack on an issue that will likely be salient with the voters in question.

27/06/2021

80% of the Facebook ads currently running for The Conservatives are on the topic of crime.

The YouGov issue tracker shows that national concern about crime has spiked recently to pre-covid levels.

With Labour led by a former Director of Public Prosecutions, there is a chance that the Conservatives could be vulnerable on this issue at a future general election.

It’s very early in the electoral cycle to be spending money on election advertising, but given the topic of crime is increasing in salience, spending money framing Starmer as soft on crime and harvesting data from those interested in the topic is a smart play.

05/05/2021

The Women’s Equality Party have released a brilliant video on the eve of the elections which mocks the macho behaviour of some of the candidates in London’s Mayoral election. By using the candidates own content against them - and keeping the end line wonderfully understated - the Women’s Equality Party have powerfully highlighted a problem with male-dominated politics.

http://politicaladvertising.co.uk/2021/05/05/womens-equality-party-mock-macho-london-mayoral-candidates/

The Women’s Equality Party have released a brilliant video on the eve of the elections which mocks the macho behaviour of some of the candidates in London’s Mayoral election. By usin…

05/05/2021

It’s my strong belief that electoral advertising should be regulated so that fact-based claims are accurate. At the moment there is not a single rule governing what political claims UK parties can make in their adverts. There are more rules concerning what you can say in an advert about chocolate than there are about a party’s record in office. All major political parties have taken advantage of this lack of regulation....

http://politicaladvertising.co.uk/2021/05/05/misleading-election-ads-during-the-super-thursday-campaign/

It’s my strong belief that electoral advertising should be regulated so that fact-based claims are accurate. At the moment there is not a single rule governing what political claims UK parties can …