Advertising Age - Campaign Trail

Pass Health-Care Bill for the Dying Children

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:47:20 -0500

If you can count on the Republicans to scare the bejeezus out of you with bombs and vaguely threatening foreigners, you can also count on the Democrats to trot out some cute kids to basically say that if health-care reform isn't passed they will die and, in the process, bankrupt their parents. That's the message at the heart of the winning entry in the Organizing for America Health Reform Video Challenge.

Health-Care-Debate Advertising Runs Risk of Overexposure

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:06:53 -0400

As health-care ad spending nears $100 million and the president makes his rounds on most of the talk shows, is it possible that the American media consumer is on the verge of a health-care overload? Now I know between cable TV, Facebook and a good book (on your Kindle, of course), there are plenty of ways to escape this media onslaught, but it's getting harder to do so and soon may become impossible.

Agency Creative Wants to Teach Congress to Read

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:38:43 -0400

The simple mission is to "convince every member of the House and Senate to sign a "ReadtoVote" pledge, agreeing never to vote on any bill before personally reading and understanding every word of it.

Hutchison Camp Uses SEO to Call Rick Perry 'Gay'

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:58:19 -0400

Note to politicians: It's hard for people to prove you're behind sleazy brochures stuck under windshields or ads funded by outside groups. It's not so hard to bust your sleazy tactics on your own website. PEOPLE CAN READ YOUR SOURCE CODE!!!

Will a New Harry and Louise Return to Airwaves This Fall?

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:00:57 -0400

The parents of modern issue-advocacy advertising, Harry and Louise, could be poised to make yet another comeback in a new campaign promoting a national health-care agenda.

Google Starting to Believe Its Own Political Hype?

mlearmonth@adage.com(Michael Learmonth) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:12:23 -0400

R. Creigh Deeds pulled out a shocking win in Virginia's gubernatorial Democratic primary. Could Google have put him over the top?

Liberal Bloggers to Dems: Advertise With Us. Or Else

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:20:57 -0400

Liberal bloggers are demanding that liberal groups start taking out ads on their sites. Of course, this will strike many -- those poor souls who dwell too much on theory -- as borderline stupid on a number of levels. But progressive groups shouldn't view advertising on these blogs in the traditional sense of advertising.

Is President Obama Putting Too Much Too Soon on the Brand?

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:09:00 -0500

Could President Obama be stretching his personal brand too thin? In the last few weeks, rather than delegate, he's served as the point person, with campaign-style events on the stimulus package, state bailouts, the mortgage and housing crisis, the Iraq War, and the fate of Guantanamo Bay.

Obama Can't Sell Stimulus Without TV Ads

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:14:51 -0500

Since the start of the general election, Barack Obama spent $11 million per week communicating with voters through TV. This unfiltered messaging proved to be one of candidate Obama's biggest strengths last fall. Since he took office in January, however, Obama has relied on a series of press conferences and the usual presidential forums to get his message to the American public.

Political Advertising: The Gift that Keeps On Giving

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:05:38 -0500

Issue ad spending on federal and state policies has topped $42 million since Nov. 4. This, combined with the additional $5 million in runoff ad spending, makes the 2008 election the gift that keeps on giving.

I Also Want to Write About Barack Obama!

mythili.chandrasekar@jwt.com(Mythili Chandrasekar) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:26:53 -0500

Mythili Chandrasekar takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the marketing community's desperate search for lessons in Barack Obama's historic presidential campaign.

Buckets of Barack Post-Election Coverage

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:53:27 -0500

If there is anyone still dropping by Campaign Trail to see what's left to say, I point you to this page, where you'll find all the post-election coverage from this week's print issue of Advertising Age.

OK, We Get It: Obama Won Because of You

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:38:36 -0500

There are a number of companies, pundits and so-called marketing gurus who are lucky we've been flooded by a wave of press releases in which they each claim their share of responsibility for Barack Obama's win.

Obama Wins AdAge.com Vote in Landslide

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:36:20 -0500

Barack Obama became president-elect last night. He also won the AdAge.com poll, garnering 73% of the vote to 25% for John McCain. Bob Barr and Ralph Nader each snagged 1%.

How Obama Killed 'Election Day' and Became President

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:01 -0500

"Election Day" as we know it no longer exists. The simple fact is that Barack Obama and his campaign chiefs understood that.

Poll Dancing: MediaVest Says It's Obama by 11 P.M.

mbush@adage.com(Michael Bush) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:18:26 -0500

MediaVest's Poll of Polls provides a timeline of when each state will likely be called and when the overall election will be called tonight. The poll, which aggregates state-level polling from over 200 individual polls conducted by polling, news and political organizations, predicts that the election will officially be called for Barack Obama at 11 p.m.

Who's Getting Your Vote for President?

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:34:02 -0500

Election Day is finally here. So who are you voting for? Check out our poll.

McCain-Palin Haunted by Ghost of VP-Present

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:43:03 -0500

The Obama campaign is delighted that Dick Cheney endorsed McCain-Palin.

Here's What I Think of Celebrity Get-Out-the-Vote Efforts

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:57:45 -0400

Every election cycle, it's the same thing: Celebrities crawl out of Hollywood to tell us to vote.

Study: Obama Gains on McCain in Negative-Ad Race

iteinowitz@adage.com(Ira Teinowitz) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:29:24 -0400

A study from the University of Wisconsin out today says that from Oct. 21-28, 63% of the Obama ads and 79% of the McCain ads were negative. In its previous report, about ads running from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, the project said that 100% of the McCain campaign's ads and 34% of the Obama campaign's ads were negative.

McCain Ad Quotes Obama Praising McCain

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:02:19 -0400

Isn't it great when we all get along?

Obama Invades McCain's Home Turf

iteinowitz@adage.com(Ira Teinowitz) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:54:07 -0400

The Obama campaign is taking the unprecedented step of launching its first advertising in rival John McCain's home state of Arizona.

Obama's Half Hour Pulled 33.5 Million Viewers

iteinowitz@adage.com(Ira Teinowitz) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:46:23 -0400

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- Nielsen is reporting that its more complete results show that 33.5 million viewers watched Barack Obama's half-hour TV ad Wednesday night.

Dingell Asks Networks Not to Make Early Projections

iteinowitz@adage.com(Ira Teinowitz) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:21:47 -0400

The powerful chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., is calling on the national TV and cable news channels to hold off projecting the winner of the presidential election Tuesday night until all polls nationwide are closed.

Obama Had Hollywood Help on Infomercial

iteinowitz@adage.com(Ira Teinowitz) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:09:15 -0400

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- Barack Obama's half-hour infomercial may have been produced by two leaders of the campaign's ad team of Jim Margolis of ad agency GMMB and Mark Putnam of ad agency Murphy/Putnam, but it had some Hollywood help.

Just How Useless Were the Debates?

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:58:56 -0400

Back in 2004, we were treated to debates between the super boring John Kerry and George W. Bush, who seems to speak English as a second language. We all had high hopes for this time around.

More on the Half-Hour Obama Hour: Poll Results

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:55:20 -0400

The results of yesterday's poll, asking what you thought of the half-hour Obama infomercial (before it aired, of course) are in.

The Half-Hour Obama Hour: What Will It Mean?

iteinowitz@adage.com(Ira Teinowitz) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:02:16 -0400

Call it Barack Obama's $3.5 million gamble. As the Obama campaign readies to air a half-hour TV program at 8 p.m. EST Wednesday on major broadcast and some cable networks, the question is will it actually work?

Today's Ads: Both Candidates Take Shots on Economy, Experience

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:46:32 -0400

John McCain's campaign today unveils an ad briefly mentioning speeches and TV specials before hitting Barack Obama's approach to fixing the economy and questioning his experience. The Obama Camp, on the other hand, uses McCain's own words to let the Republican tell the world about his inexperience with the economy.

When Florida's in the Balance, Scare the Elderly

kwheaton@adage.com(Ken Wheaton) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:16:10 -0400

With the Florida race a little too close for comfort, Team McCain talks Iran and Israel.