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We used to be a proper people.
Retail stores waited until after Thanksgiving to put up their holiday decor. Kids went back to school after Labor Day. Political ad season wasn’t all year long.
Yet here we are in the final throes of an expensive mayoral campaign that saw its first television ads begin in mid-March, and we’re already seeing commercials for candidates competing in next year’s crowded Republican gubernatorial primary.
If you work in politics or advertising, you’re familiar with the types of ads we’re talking about. Here are some examples:
◗ “Getting to know you” biographical ads setting up the candidate’s life story and background to create a relatable and authentic image.
◗ Positive ads highlighting a candidate’s accomplishments and qualities.
◗ Negative ads attacking an opponent’s weaknesses or controversial actions.
◗ Contrast ads juxtaposing a candidate’s positions with their opponent’s, aimed at persuading undecided voters.
◗ Issue-based ads focusing on specific policy proposals.
◗ Endorsement ads featuring prominent individuals or organizations expressing support for a candidate, to boost credibility.
◗ Attack ads funded by third-party groups hoping to influence the outcome of an election without direct coordination with a candidate’s campaign.
Most of them are formulaic and boring—so much so that middle- and high-school-age kids can spot and mock them within three seconds. I live with these people and their commentary.
Occasionally, you’ll see an ad that breaks through the noise. Businessman Mike Braun did it in the 2018 Republican U.S. Senate primary.
While Luke Messer and Todd Rokita, lifelong rivals who were both members of Congress at the time, bludgeoned each other, Braun swooped in as an outsider and nabbed the nomination. His most memorable television ad featured him carrying cardboard cutouts of Messer and Rokita, dressed in identical suits and ties, asking viewers if they could tell the difference between the two.
Back in 2008, then-Gov. Mitch Daniels won re-election by almost 60% of the vote despite Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s carrying the state by a narrow margin. Daniels ran an ad that flashed quick text snippets of his first-term accomplishments with background music that sounded like the “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme song. I can still hear the spot as I write this.
If our ears and eyeballs will never again get a break from inbound political advertising, here’s my quick wish list for candidates’ future commercials:
◗ Try being a little bit funny. I get it; politics is serious, but humor done well can be far more memorable than constant negativity.
◗ Tell us something we don’t know. Yes, of course you’re an amazing leader who’s done amazing things, and your family is equally amazing, but I want to know something I can remember. I once worked for a newspaper editor who, back when she was a reporter, lived on a houseboat on the Potomac River. She would tell every source that little factoid, and it stuck with them—and helped her stand out among her peers.
◗ Music and sound matter, especially if you’re trying to catch my attention while we’re making dinner or emptying the dishwasher or feeding the dogs. If you want to get my attention, swap out the royalty-free stuff andinvest in something captivating.
◗ Adopt what works from mainstream advertising. There’s a reason those ads work.
Trying a new approach might not win the election, but I think many among us would be forever grateful for something new in this now-nonstop cycle.•
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Chartier is a lifelong Indianapolis resident and owner of Mass Ave Public Relations. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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