Consultants' Corner

According to Jupiter Research, via The Laredo Group, the average online consumer spends 14 hours a week online, the same amount of time they watch television. This is a substantial market for both products and candidates and it will play a role of growing importance in upcoming elections. Laredo: "Whatever party goes about it first, will be the winner."

Profile Of Men And Women Who Used The Internet ('05)

                                  No HS  High Some Coll

       All 18-29 30-49 50-64 65+ Diploma Schl Coll Grad 

Men    68%  80%   76%   63%  34%   32%   58%  79%   89%

Wom    66   86    79    66   21    27    56   79    89

                       Less

       Wht Lat Blk Oth 30K 30-50 50-75 75+K Marr Sngle

Men    70% 67% 50% 72% 49%  66%   84%  90%   72%  62%

Wom    67  66  60  66  48   76    87   95    75   56

How It's Done...
Reaching this audience is not as easy as placing an ad on Google and hoping for the best. There is a science behind effective Internet advertising (the key word here being effective). The major advantage Internet advertising offers is the ability to target more effectively and cost efficiently than in other media outlets. The downside of this, Leibowitz points out, is that the work involved "to buy and execute an Internet and online campaign is dramatically more work than any other kind of media." However, "it also enables a campaign to hone down the creative and targeting so it is exactly right for your targets in real time." This gives a campaign the freedom to rapidly change strategy if necessary -- either responding to an event or restructuring an ad campaign based on feedback or effectiveness.
Laredo: "Internet media is about using your tools and technology to find your audience at the right time and right place with very little waste." There are two separate means to accomplishing this -- display and search advertising.
Using display advertising, a campaign could place an ad on a site that has some local content and then target by specific zip code. Another means is using behavioral targeting -- watching where users are going on the web and then target based on cookies.
The world of search engine advertising is a relatively new area of expertise, but it allows campaigns to target on a whole new level. Taking Google as an example, the client must first establish the key words it wants to trigger its ad. An obvious choice would be to purchase both the candidate's and the opponent's names. Regardless of the fact that your ad will be displayed when the appropriate key words are entered, there is no cost to the campaign unless someone clicks on the ad, revealing the true value of search ads -- branding. Laredo explains that some people "live for clicks." However, as suggested in the group's training, just getting your name out there can be as effective, if not more so, than paying for each click.
Not all search engines operate the same. On Yahoo!, targeting can be based on behavioral demographics, establishing criteria based on gender, age, ZIP code, etc. The strategy depends on the needs of a campaign, but as Leibowitz points out, the most effective campaign is a combination of both.
Leibowitz notes that "Internet advertising is another channel to reach people. It is not and should not be considered a stand alone media." It can increase the effectiveness of all other mediums. Hattaway Communications Pres. Doug Hattaway, who uses both demographic and behavioral types of targeting for his clients, contends that online ads are more likely to drive people to a campaign web site when it incorporates elements of broadcast, such as audio and interactive visuals. He describes options for advertising like a "funnel" with broadcast being the broadest. Therefore, combining the two mediums allows for a more "informed and engaged" experience. Hattaway: "Word-of-mouth is the best type of advertising, add in the electronic part and you are set."
Moreover, the Internet has proven to be an effective medium for political fundraising. In his run for pres. in '04, Howard Dean received unmatchable online fundraising figures. Leibowitz: "Dean brought exposure to the Internet in the world of politics; unfortunately he lost." Laredo adds that "if Dean had won, the amount spent and attention paid to Internet media would have been dramatic." Yet, it still can be dramatic if "political media take their heads out of the sand."

Party Preference?
As for which party is more inclined to use this new technology, MSHC VP of Internet Advertising Michael Bassick says, "it's relatively quiet on both sides" and that "it's too early to tell which party will embrace the Internet as an advertising medium." Bassick: "There are no rumors of large-scale ad buys on the Internet in the works."
Bassick notes the myth that the Internet is too pervasive to be a targeting tool, citing that most politicians do not view the Internet as a medium to persuade voters outside their web site. Bassick: "There is a complete disconnect between those who use the Internet to communicate with their base and those who communicate to persuade voters." Although he does not foresee a huge impact in the '08 or even '12 elections, Bassick believes "it's inevitable that the Internet will emerge as a political advertising medium." Bassick: "It will not be a revolution, it will be a slow evolution."

Kicking Ads And Taking Names
Although some campaigns remain in the dark, others are breaking convention. Ex-Dep US AG Deval Patrick's (D) campaign for MA GOV made a broad Internet buy 4/11 consisting of banner ads and video space on various web sites such as Boston.com, CNN.com and Bostonherald.com. Costing between $50K-$100K, the ad buy, which is specifically targeted to MAians, was designed to run for four weeks and produce 2.7M ad impressions. Patrick New Media Dir. Charles SteelFisher, who managed the buy in collaboration with AKP Message & Media (D), said except for a "few print ads," this was the campaign's "first buy and only buy" thus far. In deciding between online and more traditional mediums, the campaign factored in the "strong Internet constituency" and the medium's powerful ability to "narrow-cast." The web sites used for ad placement were chosen based on a variety of research, including demographic data.
Although it is not going to "replace" traditional mediums, SteelFisher considers the Internet as a "complement" that already has had a "huge impact on elections" and will be "standard fare" by '08. In addition to the media buy, the Patrick campaign has launched "Team Patrick," a feature on the campaign web site allowing supporters to create their own web page. Currently, "Team Patrick" has about 700 personal web pages, helping to raise more than $600K. SteelFisher calls the emphasis on the online medium "not just grassroots, it's culture" (Hotline reporting, 5/19).
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