Cross-posted on OpenLeft.com
I am starting a series of blog posts today on what I think are the most effective ads, mailings, and other forms of communications with voters are in this late month of the campaign. I wanted to do this because outside organizational ads rarely get the attention that campaign ads do, but frequently have a huge effect because of the credibility an independent voice can bring to an issue.
When I analyze the effectiveness of campaign ads, I use a lot of different criteria to shape my thinking, including:
- How central and salient that ad's issue/theme is to the bigger campaign atmospheres
- How credible is the organization running the ad to the general public and especially important demographic groups
- How much discussion in traditional media and the blogs does the ad generate
- Does the discussion generated by the ad, or the ad itself in the markets in which it runs, change polling numbers related to that issue and the candidates' positions on the issue
One final caveat: I have a relationship of one kind of another with most of the groups running these ads. I'm on about a dozen organizational boards, have done paid or pro bono consulting for many groups, have close friends running many of these groups. So while my opinions on all of this are indeed biased, I at least tend to have a bias in favor of just about every group I refer to.
So here's my first featured ad:
This ad, by Health Care for America Now, is a winner in my judgment because it directly addresses an issue central to the last two debates (the VP and the 2nd Presidential) and to the two campaign's back and forth in ads and media statements. It comes from a credible new coalition on the health care issue. It has important information for voters that is new to most of them about McCain's health care plan. And most importantly, it packs a big emotional punch. I've seen some testing on this ad that indicates it is a very strong ad. It is running in Ohio and on national cable, and versions of it tied to congressional candidates are running in New Hampshire (Sununu vs. Shaheen), FL-8 (Keller vs. Grayson), NY-29 (Kuhl vs. Massa), MI-7 (Walberg vs. Schauer), MO-9 (Luetkemeyer vs. Baker), IL-11 (Ozinga vs. Halvorson) and MN-3 (Paulsen vs. Madia). You can view those versions here.
If you want to check the organization out further, and give to it to expand their buy, you can go here.