30 Second Updates, Part II

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Bill Richardson stays on message with his job interview commercial series. It's nothing new, but as a second tier candidate he needs to keep running this kind of message especially on a national platform like this. Mike Gravel takes an issue-based approach to talk about his candidacy, ending his 30 seconds with his trademark water ripples. Joe Biden goes with a clean cut film that asks people what they would do if they were trapped in a room with politicians and had to make do.

These three videos bring up the question of just how professional these 30 second videos should look. Should they look like a campaign commercial? Should they use humor? Time for a soap box? Reinforce their campaign message? Is creative freedom really a burden? Above all, these candidates should do whatever that particular candidate needs to do to be memorable.

UPDATE ON THE UPDATE: Barack Obama also used his 30 seconds to advertise his text messaging campaign. So far campaigns are still figuring out how to use text messaging in an inexpensive and effective way. Let's see how well text messaging works when it's been integrated into a larger media campaign.