Success Stories
Political Advertising Strategy, Creative, and Media
Political Campaign Success Story:
Candidate wins “historic” county election with multi-product campaign
Client: County-wide Comptroller Political Race
Category: Political
Background:
The candidate was seeking the County Comptroller position as an underdog Democrat in a Republican-leaning county. The incumbent had doubled their funds for their marketing campaigns, and without a big enough budget for television ads, the candidate turned to a digital strategy. This would allow them to execute their marketing strategy through affordable tactics.
Strategy:
The candidate utilized several digital products to reach their target audience. Confident that he would win the democratic vote, the candidate needed to target independent and undecided voters in the suburbs where he needed to gain campaign recognition. To do this, we used Household IP Targeting beginning 4 months prior to Election Day, targeting specific addresses of independent and undecided voters. We then added a series of Video ads as well as Native ads to even further our ad reach. As the campaign entered its final weeks, we went county-wide with Display, Video and Mobile Conquesting ads.
Results:
Over the course of the 4-month campaign, we served 929,618 impressions, and tracked 1,911 clicks to the candidate’s website. On election night, the results were “historic”. The candidate garnered 52% of the votes to the incumbent’s 48%, marking the first major county-wide office victory for a democrat since 1991.
Household IP Targeting Campaign Success Story:
Local Group “Hops” Over Beer Giant in Legislative Battle
Client: Guild of Craft Brewers
Category: Political
Background:
A legislative fight ensued between The Guild of Craft Brewers and Anheuser-Busch, one of the largest beer brewers in the world. A State House Bill 168 was passed to preserve the 3-tier beer distribution system, simultaneously closing a loophole that Anheuser-Busch was using to run two distributorships in the state. The Guild of Craft Brewers were in support of this bill, challenging one of the world’s largest brewing companies. IP targeting was able to help this group of local entrepreneurs level the playing field and deliver their message to the targeted audience while maintaining cost effectiveness.
Strategy:
The Craft Brewers chose to use a strategy that simultaneously targeted both legislators and voters . A plan was created to target over 300,000 ad impressions to the state legislative offices as well as to voters in the districts of certain members of the General Assembly. This small group of local entrepreneurs was able to effectively deliver their message while keeping their costs low despite Anheuser-Busch’s extremely large lobbying budget.
Results:
There was a huge online response to this campaign. The average click-through rate for a display advertising campaign is .08%, but the Craft Brewer ads received a CTR of .643% – almost 800% higher than the average. This level of engagement means that the right message was delivered to the right audience to help the Craft Brewers’ cause. Legislators and other staff members were targeted at their offices, while voters were targeted in their homes.
Household IP Targeting Success Story:
Candidate wins “historic” county election with multi-product campaign
Client: Judicial Primaries
Category: Political
Background:
The judicial primaries in a top 50 metropolitan area, had several open seats, with multiple candidates vying for each one. During these primaries, a measurement experiment was created that was used in four different races to help determine how effective each IP Targeting campaign was.
Strategy:
Increasing name identification among primary voters was a major piece of the digital marketing campaign strategy for the candidates in this race. To implement this, every voter in the county who had voted in the last three or four primaries was targeted, regardless of his or her political party. Two areas in the county had an unexpectedly higher turn-out, and therefore was targeted with an extra flight of display ads. Overall, approximately three million display ad impressions were delivered for the four candidates utilizing IP targeting in the 30 days before the election.
Results:
Three of the four candidates moved to the general election, equaling a 75% win percentage, and 31% increase from the expected normal win percentage in comparable races. Candidates who utilized the digital marketing campaigns received more votes in 100% of the hyper-targeted areas, and 17% more in these areas than countrywide.
Facebook Targeting Campaign Success Story:
Local Official Wins Election With Facebook News Feed
Client: Political Figure
Category: Politics / Election
Background:
After 30 years serving the County Sheriff’s Department, Chief Deputy was one election away from holding the only position he has never had — County Sheriff. Up against a well-respected and experienced candidate this political figure knew his past marketing strategy of yard signs, t-shirts and word of mouth would not be enough. Having heard of Facebook Advertising and knowing the majority of his peers actively used the platform, he knew he needed a digital marketing strategy.
Strategy:
To reach eligible voters of all political affiliation within the county, we used Facebook Video Ads across the desktop and mobile platforms. The video of the political figure would build rapport and trust with the target audience. The specific demographics we targeted were Ages 18+ and US politics (conservative), US politics (liberal), US politics (moderate), US politics (very conservative), US politics (very liberal).
Results:
The client won the election! The Click Through Ratio on the ad was 55x the National Average! The post was shared 73 times and comments affirmed him the best candidate to serve as County Sheriff.
Overall, the campaign served 47,632 impressions with 1,821 clicks and a 3.82% CTR (54.62 x the National Average (.07%)! There were over 400 reactions, 80 comments and shares, and 7,171 hits of post engagement!
Facebook Targeting Campaign Success Story:
Local Sheriff Wins Re-Election With Facebook Premium
Client: Political Figure
Category: Politics / Election
Background:
Elected in 2017, this County Sheriff has been in the process of enforcing fundamental changes to the county’s Sheriff Department. With a campaign run on the accomplishments made in his first term, his opponent conducted false personal attacks to get the upper hand. This Sheriff knew that a great way to communicate his platform and true character to the community was through a Facebook Ads campaign.
Strategy:
In an attempt to reach all eligible voters within county lines, Facebook Display Ads were used ran on Desktop and Mobile platforms. Multiple display ads were used to demonstrate the Sheriff’s proven success, charisma, and honorable character. This was designed to show the people he was one with the community and that their best interests were in mind. The specific demographics we targeted were all individuals Ages 18+, along with individuals that liked pages related to Voting, Elections, Social Change, Political Campaigns, Political Freedom, and Political Parties. The Sheriff also used a Custom Audience, utilizing a list of names and addresses to target prospective voters, as well as loyal supporters to ensure they went out to vote.
Results:
The client won and was re-elected as County Sheriff! The Click Through Ratio on the ad was 66x the National Average! The post was shared 73 times and comments affirmed him the best candidate to serve as County Sheriff.
Overall, the campaign served 71,736 impressions with 3,325 clicks and a 4.64% CTR (66.22 x the National Average (.07%)! There were over 563 reactions, 122 comments and shares, and 4,314 hits of post engagement!
