Bloomberg buys Superbowl :60 other candidates should learn from it
The New York Times reports that Michael Bloomberg is buying a :60 in the Superbowl to attack Trump, spending north of $10M. Trump may buy a :30. For some reason, politicians seem to shy away from the Superbowl:
But the Super Bowl ad is a show of financial force rarely seen in presidential politics. Though some campaigns have made local advertising buys during past Super Bowls, a national buy has often been out of reach, given the expense. It is also usually viewed as wasteful to pay to reach a 50-state audience rather than buying ads in the swing states where campaigns would prefer to target their message.
Source: Bloomberg Takes On Trump With a $10 Million Super Bowl Ad - The New York Times
But, here’s the reality, there is no better ad buy any national candidate could make. Here’s why:
- It’s early, and first movers advantage applies. This sends a “Go big or go home” message to the rest of the field.
- It reaches like no other ad buy. It’s the only place an ad buy can guarantee not only an audience, but a discussion the day after.
- Contrary to Google and Facebook’s claims of being able to reach everyone that matters, there are still people offline, and even if you are online, it’s impossible to hit everyone at once with the same message to start buzz.
- Thanks to Youtube and social sharing, the conversation can continue a long-time after the running of the single ad. People still talk about Apple’s 1984 which only ran officially once, during the Superbowl.
- Because he’s the only challenger buying a spot (as far as we know) he’ll own the political discussion after the game.
- He’s missed the debate stage. This clearly puts him in the mix.
- Smart tracking of visitors to his site after the spot, should give him a huge base to remarket to.
The real question is who is doing the creative and while attacking Trump for :60 the real goal is to move people to back Bloomberg. Since he’s the only candidate not asking for money, how does he measure the conversions he’s getting for his money? Most American’s don’t donate, most don’t volunteer to work on campaigns. For a big data guy, you’d expect something more than just eyeballs and shares.
The other campaigns will all spend $10M on media. They’ll make Alphabet and Facebook money. They will only target voters in swing states and have custom messaging and all kinds of other tactical goals. The reality is, Bloomberg will have set off an atomic bomb of a message, and the rest will forever be looking at the shadow caused by the blast.
Your thoughts? Please leave in comments.