Trump Touts Accomplishments in First of Two Super Bowl Ads

Hours after Michael Bloomberg released his 60-second Super Bowl ad, President Trump went live with his own 30-second spot, one of his two ads that will air during Sunday’s game. The first Trump ad, called “Stronger, Safer, More Prosperous,” features images of him winning the presidency and snippets of news reports commenting on his administration….

Democratic Candidate Michael Bloomberg’s Super Bowl Ad Showcases Gun Control

In the ongoing tit-for-tat between billionaires running for president, the Michael Bloomberg campaign released its much-awaited Super Bowl ad this morning. The ad, which addressed gun control, is the presidential hopeful’s latest commercial after several weeks of running ads in battleground states, like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, questioning President Donald Trump’s impeachment. The campaign secured…

A Politicized Super Bowl Means Opportunities for Brands

The Super Bowl is more than snack stadiums and rating points. On the first Sunday in February, America’s largest television audience does something truly remarkable: Viewers look forward to watching ads. And yet, this year’s ad slate threatens to spoil the party. A double-dip of political ads–including two 60-second spots, one each from Michael Bloomberg…

Facebook Removes Network of Pages Posting Content Supporting Robert Hyde

Facebook pulled a network of several-dozen pages late last week that were behind coordinating posts defending Robert Hyde, a Republican running for a House of Representatives seat in Connecticut who has become part of the impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump. Rebecca Ballhaus of The Wall Street Journal reported that the coordinated activities of the…

The Census Campaign Will Use This Spanish-Language Ad to Address Concerns About ICE

As the U.S. Census begins its sprawling, once-a-decade effort to count all the people living in America, special focus is being placed on reaching a wide range of immigrant and minority communities. While such emphasis isn’t unique to the 2020 census, what is new is the dark cloud hovering over the issue of legal versus…

Media Needs to Start Preparing Now for the Post-Election Boom

For all the talk about the immediate effect of unprecedented political advertising in 2020–politicians crowding primetime, filling media coffers while edging out staple advertisers–there’s been little said about what happens after the party’s over. I see two ramifications with lasting impact on the media business where advertising is expected to slow down in 2021. On…

Facebook Continues to Resist Calls to Limit Political Advertising, Fact-Check Content

Facebook’s latest response to the ongoing debate over how it should handle political advertising and false information in political ads and content is putting more controls in the hands of users. Director of product management for ads Rob Leathern echoed the philosophy shared by CEO Mark Zuckerberg late last year, saying in a Newsroom post…

How 10 of America’s Biggest Brands Divvy Up Their Donations to Democrats and Republicans

Now that the winter holidays are over and the dregs of the New Year’s champagne have been poured out, Americans have little choice but to turn their weary heads to this year’s presidential race. And with the electorate more ideologically divided than any time since the Vietnam era, it comes as little surprise that both…

Teen Vogue Flounders With Apparent Sponsored Content From Facebook

Teen Vogue, the award-winning digital publication known for its transition from teenybopper fashion magazine to hard-hitting, youth-oriented news platform, became the target social media ire this morning after publishing a story about Facebook’s efforts to “ensure the integrity of the 2020 election.” The story was a flattering, roughly 2,000-word profile highlighting five women of Facebook…

Ivanka Trump Speaks at CES About an Evolving Workforce in the US

LAS VEGAS–Ivanka Trump, an adviser to her father, President Donald Trump, appeared onstage at CES today to discuss jobs, after the White House failed to make an appearance last year amid the longest shutdown in the nation’s history. Trump addressed her efforts to encourage a more modern workforce during her father’s time in the White…

Donald Trump Will Have an Ad in Super Bowl 2020

The re-election campaign for President Donald Trump has purchased an ad slot during Super Bowl 2020. The campaign’s confirmation of the ad comes after weeks of speculation, and on the heels of Democrat Michael Bloomberg’s campaign also announcing today that it would have a 60-second spot in the Big Game. The Bloomberg campaign took some…

Bloomberg Campaign Takes Out Super Bowl Ad to One-Up Trump

The political game is headed to the Big Game this year. Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York and Democrat presidential candidate looking to win the primary and ultimately unseat President Donald Trump, has already spent astronomical amounts in the 2020 race. Now the campaign is taking it to another level at next…

Micro-Targeting Bans on Platforms Is Bad for Marketers on All Sides of the Aisle

The one and only thing everyone in Washington agrees on right now is that we’re headed for trouble, thanks to nonsensical political ad policies recently announced by the biggest players in digital advertising. While Facebook has insisted on a laissez-faire approach to political ads, both Twitter and Google have put restrictions on the practice, which…

OkCupid’s New Ads Focus on Politics, BDSM and Other Make-Or-Break Dating Factors

Two years ago, dating app OkCupid was the darling of the creative world. The brand’s “DTF” campaign from Wieden + Kennedy New York twisted the original meaning of the acronym with dozens of new sayings designed to move dating away from just hookups. The bold campaign–a first for OkCupid, founded in 2004–significantly boosted buzz, made…

We Don’t Need a Ban on Political Ads—We Need a Foundation of Real News

There’s been much speculation as to whether Facebook will follow Twitter and Google’s lead in restricting political ads. And, indeed, it feels like political advertising has tipped into particularly dangerous, manipulative territory hastened by microtargeting and real-time analytics. But as many marketers have experienced, Facebook’s ad filters can be dangerously imprecise when labeling content “political.”…

Watching the Dismissive Nature That Helps Spread Disinformation Firsthand

Last week I sat with my friends to count our blessings and rejoice in the season of winter festivals. It will not surprise you to learn that we had some unexpected guests: the president of the United States along with the speaker of the house, the Senate majority leader, several sitting senators and congressional representatives…

6 Takeaways From Political Spending Ahead of the 2020 Presidential Race

As we head into the 2020 presidential election year, experts are forecasting a record-breaking amount of money spent on political advertising. With new avenues to reach voters, including a slew of social media platforms and OTT devices, campaign ad dollars will likely shift from traditional channels. Here are six key insights from the race gathered…

Facebook Cracks Down on Misleading Information About the 2020 US Census

Politicians’ freedom to run ads and post content on Facebook without being subject to fact-checking apparently does have limits–when it comes to the 2020 U.S. census. “Scammers, criminals, fraudsters, online trolls, unscrupulous opportunists and malicious actors are potential sources of disinformation that we expect to face with the 2020 census,” U.S. Census Bureau deputy director…

Why Political Marketers Need to Focus More on Marginalized Voters

Just when we thought the smoke had cleared from the 2016 presidential race, here we are, in the blink of a proverbial eye, readying for the 2020 campaign. Candidates on both sides of the aisle have linked their Madison Avenue consiglieri and strategist, with their street teams and war room colleagues. They are running projection…

Why Tech Platforms Have a Responsibility to Reel In Political Ads

It’s hard to recall a more fateful election in the U.K. since the one post-World War II. Yesterday’s election is one where the outcome will have far-reaching consequences outside the U.K. The future of the European Union is at stake, and the world is watching. A whirlwind of political moves has seen everything from a…