This spring saw the president’s campaign start dropping some early dollars into targeted media buys. Practitioners told C&E that there could be some lessons for down-ballot races — if they have some extra budget to experiment with, or take advantage of lower prices.
“I think they’re using [their early buys] extremely effectively to be able to push their message, but then also really rigorously test into what’s working now so they can deploy that in a much heavier and aggressive way later,” said Evan Degnan, SVP, Digital at Democratic shop AL Media.
If only down-ballot campaigns had the budget to follow suit, Degnan lamented.
“Obviously when you’re running these smaller races, it can be a challenge to have that really early start … to do that kind of deep and thoughtful testing.”
Owen Barnard, a senior director of digital strategy at Sage Media, encouraged campaigns not just to look at the Biden camp’s spending as experimental. It could also be a cost savings to be up early.
“You can get a lot of bang for your buck early when inventory’s not tight on tons of different audiences, tons of different list matches,” Barnard said.
Now, media buyers told C&E they’re watching the Biden camp target groups like voters of color, or young voters who they’ll need to turn out in November. Reaching those audiences now, the buyers said, could provide strategic insights as the calendar approaches early voting windows during the general election.
But beyond the experimentation aspect, buyers on both sides said that the cost-savings could be significant. In fact, Republican ad buyers took away that lesson from the early moves.
“There’s a lot to be said for advertising in a period where there’s relatively clear air in comparison to the fall, which is going to be a really crowded marketplace,” said Tim Cameron, of FlexPoint Media. “It makes sense for them to be up now. It’s an enviable position.”
Cameron noted the Biden camp’s early spending is part of a historic trend by deep-pocketed political marketers.
“Really since probably around 2014-2016 you started seeing forward-thinking entities move back their [ad buying] further and further, and start earlier and earlier,” he said.
