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Smart Media Group was proud to be a part of newly elected Senator Jeff McWaters special election victory. The official results show that over 78% of voters cast their ballots for McWaters and his pro-business platform. Senator McWaters will represent the 37th Senate District in Richmond which encompasses eastern Virginia Beach.
Negative advertising is nothing new in the political realm, but there is a new trend of response ads appearing in the retail industry as well. Negative political television ads have been around for decades (see Daisy, Willie Horton, 3am phone call), and some of these spots include response ads directly mentioning another opponents ad. A recent example would be the Virginia Governors race with McConnell and Deeds placing negative ads and using each other’s visuals.
While negative advertising has been around in retail as well, usually it is based on the smaller share attacking the industry leader, not a back and forth battle. The classic examples are Pepsi vs. Coke and more recently Mac vs Windows:
Usually the leader would ignore the competitor to maintain their brand’s positive image. However, a new trend emerging is an actual response from the leaders in the example of the recent Verizon and AT&T 3G ad campaign. Verizon’s television ads display a map comparing the two coverages and even uses a play on words for AT&T’s exclusive contract with the popular IPhone, mimicking “There’s an app for that” with “There’s a map for that”. The difference from other retail negative campaigns is that AT&T responded to these claims with an ad of their own showing their coverage map and even hired a Hollywood actor to deliver the message. Here are the two ads:
AT&T might have been just trying to dispel misleading accusations, but the fact that they rolled out a large-scale campaign instead of a simple press release is significant. The two companies even sued and countersued each other reminiscent of a bitter political campaign debate. Whether this is a bigger trend or an isolated instance is yet to be seen.
Virginia broadcast and cable began airing new political advertising this week from the candidates running for Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor.
Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General, Steve Shannon for Attorney General, and Bill Bolling for Lieutenant Governor all placed ads in the Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke, Tri-Cities, and DC markets, while Deeds and McDonnell continued with their statewide advertising schedules. The above map compares how much each candidate spent by market for the week of 9/22-9/28.
This chart details how much money each candidate and issue group has placed in each market since the week of 8/31, and show the grand total of spending since 5/11.
Cuccinelli placed a total of $672k in Norfolk, Richmond, and Roanoke broadcast for five weeks of advertising from 9/29-11/2.
Click here to see a map of Cuccinelli’s spending.
Shannon placed a total of $140k in Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke, Tri-Cities, and DC broadcast and cable for one week, 9/22-9/27. He placed $100k of the total sum in Norfolk, Richmond, and Roanoke broadcast, and he placed $40k of the total sum in Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke, Tri-Cities, and DC cable networks NB, CNN, FXNC, HLN, MNBC, TNT, and USA.
Click here to see a map of Shannon’s spending.
Bolling placed a total of $74k in Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke, and DC broadcast and cable for 9/22-9/28. He placed $67k of the total sum in broadcast, and he placed $8k of the total sum in Norfolk and DC cable networks CNN, DISC, ESPN, and HIST.
Click here to see a map of Bolling’s spending.
Creigh Deeds placed a total of $807k in Virginia broadcast and cable for 9/22-9/29. He placed $661k of the total sum in broadcast, and he placed $146k of the total sum in cable networks CNN, ESPN, TLC, AEN, DISC, HGTV, LIF, TBS, TNT, USA, BRVO, and MNBC.
Click here to see a map of Deeds’ spending.
Bob McDonnell placed a total of $648k in statewide broadcast and cable for 9/21-9/28. He placed $528k of the total sum in broadcast, and $120k of the total sum in cable CNB, AMC, CNN, DISC, ESPN, FXNC, FOOD, HGTV, HIST, TNT, USA, TWC, SPK, and LIF.
Click here to see a map of McDonnell’s spending.
The gubernatorial candidates have continued advertising for the week of 9/15-9/21, with seven weeks to go until Election Day. Take a look at the maps below to gain an idea of where the candidates are spending their money.
This chart details how much money each candidate and issue group has placed in each market since the week of 8/25, and show the grand total of spending since 5/11.
Deeds placed a total of $630k in statewide broadcast and cable for 9/15-9/21. He placed $512k of the total sum in broadcast, and he placed $117k of the total sum in the cable networks CNN, ESPN, TLC, AEN, DISC, HGTV, LIF, TBS, TNT, USA, BRVO, MNBC. You can view his ads here. Below is a heat map that shows Deeds’ spending in each DMA.
Click here to see a full size version of the map.
McDonnell placed a total of $602k in statewide broadcast and cable for 9/14-9/20. He placed $482k of the total sum in broadcast, and he placed $119k of the total sum in the cable networks CNN, AMC, ESPN, LIF, FOOD, FXNC, HGTV, HIST, SPK, TNT, TWC. You can view his new ad, “Protect”, here. Below is a heat map that shows McDonnell’s spending in each DMA.
Click here to see a full size version of the map.
Virginia Common Sense placed a total of $237k in broadcast and cable for 9-10-9/18. They placed $248k of the total sum in broadcast, and they placed $38k of the total sum in cable. Below is a heat map that shows Virginia Common Sense’s spending in each DMA. Click on the map to expand.
Click here to see a full size version of the map.
With two months to go until Election Day, both Bob McDonnell and Creigh Deeds’ advertising campaigns have launched into full swing with ads scheduled to start airing in the Washington, DC market the week of 9/7-9/14.
McDonnell placed a statewide total of $488k in broadcast and cable for 9/7-9/14. He placed $399k of the total sum in broadcast, and $88k of the total sum in cable.
Deeds placed a statewide total of $573k in broadcast and cable for 9/7-9/14. He placed $472k of the total sum in broadcast, and $100k of the total sum in cable.
Each candidate had previously placed two week’s worth of broadcast and cable advertising in all other markets in Virginia before entering the DC market. McDonnell has spent a total of $828k in broadcast and cable advertising since 8/25, while Creigh Deeds has spent a total of $1.1 million since 8/25. Virginia Common Sense has spent at least $709k in broadcast and cable advertising for 8/26-10/1.
This chart compares the total dollars spent between each candidate and issue group from 8/31 onwards.
Having entered into the Northern Virginia area, each campaign can expect to spend a much more significant amount of more campaign dollars on advertising each week.
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