Campaign Marketing

With the 2016 presidential election just around the corner, campaign ads seem to be everywhere. Whether it be while scanning those Facebook posts Uncle Jim Bob is constantly sharing, getting your weekly Bachelor fix, or scrolling through Twitter, politicians are using every opportunity possible to try and secure your vote.

One of the most common forms of campaigning is of course through television commercials. When creating a TV advertisement, it needs to send a cohesive message about the candidate and stay true to what the candidate is aiming to portray as their values. Many candidate’s marketing teams take facts about the candidate such as bills they have worked to pass, bills they have voted for/against, and ideas they plan to implement to better America and try to package them up into an advertisement that shines their client in a positive light. Another useful tactic employed by these marketing teams is to try and take down the competition by creating negative advertisements about competitors. In many instances, they will skew the truth, leave out information, and take words and actions out of context in order to paint the opposition in a negative light. While this may not seem like a very ethical route to take, there is no doubt that it is extremely effective and becoming the most commonly seen type of campaign commercial. 

With social media being a huge form of communication, especially for the younger generations, it is essential for every candidate to be utilizing Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Marketing teams have many staff members devoted to sending out social media updates daily, even hourly, about the candidate. With trying to appeal to the younger crowd, creating clever and interesting social media posts is critical to sparking and maintaining the interest of the reader. Candidates with posts that make them seem cool, hip, and not just your average stuffy politician are much more likely to be popular with younger voters. While the information within these social media posts is important, just name recognition and familiarity alone is crucial for a candidate.

While these ads do their job in convincing voters to support their candidate, it is important to remember that these marketing agencies' job is to do whatever it takes to make their client seem like the best choice, and they are extremely good at what they do. So, before you head out to the polls this November, try to sift through all of the political ads that are flying at you from every direction to make an educated choice. 

By: Rachel Seyfarth

Sources: gif-central.blogspot.in