There is ONLY one thing – one certainty – regarding the machinations of democracy; the powerful influence of reputation. Current policy positions, the candidate’s vision, and everything else that make up the Campaign objectives are undoubtedly important, but in virtually all democratic elections (national, regional, or local) the elected candidate has been the public servant with the stronger, more established reputation—or, more precisely, the capability to project a stronger credibility and reputation through political advertising and marketing. I won’t go into the reasons to choose a male voice actor who is cognizant of this concept – not for another paragraph or so anyway, consider it a ‘campaign promise’ – as this goes far beyond some self-serving ‘media fanboy loves media’ theory. The reality is, the fortune of a number of the most significant elections of not only our time, but throughout history, have been swayed by using creative, smart and timely advertising and marketing.
Twenty years into a new millennium, large life-long demographic cells of voters are aging and a brand new era of voters is emerging in the landscape of 21st Century politics. Recent research by Telaria asserts that more than 50 million Gen Z and younger Millennials are of age to participate in 2020’s election. Further, more than 90% of this demographic plan on voting, and 70% mean to pay more attention than before to political advertising. And just like in media, in retail, and in business, these younger generations consume politics differently than their predecessors. This particular voter pool cannot be ignored – nor underestimated. Establishing a candidate’s reputation with this group is a very different endeavour.
An experienced male political voice actor respects the traditional approach of live events, canvassing campaigns, and, of course, the area of his greatest contribution – traditional media (such as broadcast television, cable, and radio) as voice of image, issue, attack or comparison commercials. The Wall Street Journal estimates that 80% of the projected $10 billion ad spend in 2020 will be going to those platforms.
But that same voice actor is prepared to collaborate with the candidate, consultant and/or campaign manager on voicing other types of creative assets. According to a recent Forbes article, nearly 21%+ of ad spend this cycle is going to be distributed across Google, Facebook and other digital media. This presents both tremendous challenge and great opportunity.
In order for the contemporary politician to project the image of a strong reputation, his/her campaign must realize the need to reach multiple yet hyper-focused audiences and, as such, the campaign must address those audiences INDIVIDUALLY with relevant content and/or imagery. Embracing the need for a digital strategy allows for political ads that connect at the most granular level. Campaigns can employ cross-device targeting to reach the millennial/gen z cohort who often spend hours per day engaging with social media, while increasingly discarding traditional/broadcast media.
The 2020 US federal election will most assuredly become historically known for both its excesses and innovations in political marketing and advertising strategies. Regardless of media platform, voters across all demographics will be utterly inundated with literally thousands of unsolicited pieces of audio/visual content per day. It is, therefore, VITAL that the campaign’s message is focused and REPETITIVE if it is to rise above the noise and successfully project the earlier mentioned ‘stronger, more trustworthy, capable and true image’ – one might even say ‘reputation’ – to the electorate, varied and diverse as it may be.
An experienced male political voice over can convey the concern, confidence and commitment of your candidate’s messaging with a nuanced and persuasive delivery that projects a strong – or, if needed, an even stronger – reputation across among multiple media platforms, and multiple generational voters.
