With an eye toward the upcoming elections it 2008, online ad network BlueLithium is introducing what it calls its “Voter Network” to political campaigns and political groups. This network, which essentially seems to be its current slew of sites that they represent, will allow political decision makers the ability to target behaviorally, demographically, and geographically. It consists of about 1000 sites that could reach up to 119 million voters. The network will offer targeted standard ads units and video.
This comes with both good and bad because the political arena is a different animal all together from the commercial arena and it is a much tougher nugget to crack. Top political media consultants are notoriously conservative – business-wise – when it comes to the development of new media marketing strategies. Part of the reason for that isn’t strategy, however. Many of the decision makers are the ones making money off those :30 spots they create and the media buys that place them on our TVs. Shifting money online may be shifting money out of their pockets.
But BlueLithium (along with others) has something EXTREMELY important. At least in theory, but hopefully if they’re allowed, in practice. They can target in what I see as the Holy Trinity of targeting methods. Behavior (or by expressed interest). Demographics (as in voting blocks). And geographic (because that’s how we vote).
I talked with Dakota Sullivan, Chief Marketing Officer of BlueLithium, and who will likely be the one spearheading the company’s effort in going after the political market. He’s both upbeat but cautious about what lies ahead. Which is a good thing. The company’s ability to target by zip code and to decipher the types of issues that they may have an interest in (because of the sites they visit) should give smart political strategists the ability to hone in on potential voters with the correct messaging and go well beyond “he’s for a strong defense, good schools, and he’ll hold the line on taxes”.
He’s got his work cut out for him. The company doesn’t have a foothold in DC quite yet and behavorial targeting can be a difficult concept to explain. Right now, political decision makers see online marketing primarily as a way of reaching a committed base to solidify support and to raise funds. In the past, there has a been, quite stupidly in my opinion, very little when it comes to advertising as a means of persuasing swing voters. In the current cycle, it is too early to do persuasion advertising on a large scale as candidates are concentrating on New Hampshire, Iowa, money people, and not pissing off key leaders in interest groups. But it is not too early for consultants to open up their traditionalist minds and take a look at this whole new world online.
Sullivan told me that they’ve been doing some work with MoveOn.org, the left-wing activist group. They’ve also had simple conversations with some of the leading campaigns out there. Not much has come from it, which is to be expected as it is still early and BlueLithium doesn’t have any Washington presence. One conversation had a campaign operative thinking that they could use BlueLithium’s services to test TV commercials and get feedback.
While this isn’t a horrible idea, and it could get BlueLithium get in the door, it does show, once again, the mindset of campaign people. Use this online stuff to show our TV commericals and get feedback so we can then decide what to do with out TV commercials. If that all BlueLithium’s network is used for then the campaign is dropping the ball.
Why not expand the usage and look to examine the interests of swing voters and states that are so crucial to elections? Why not market a candidates’s ideas on education to parents? Why not talk to investors about a candidate’s tax policies? It shouldn’t be just about the TV commercials you may run, it’s about the voters, their interests, and their locations.
Writing in ClickZ, Kate Kay points out that the network itself is basically a rehash of the current network and wonders if that, within itself will be enought to appeal to poltical types. My guess that it could be if BlueLithium adds meshes it with what will likely be the major issues, swing states, and key voter groups entering 2008…and how they can deliver messages.
I think BlueLithium is doing the right thing here. To be successful, they have to devote the resources and the dedication. If not, they may end up like a lot of the other online advertising companies that made little headway and left DC shaking their heads in frutration.
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