What did $1,000,000,000,000 of teevee advertising buy?
Money is obviously a hugely corrupting influence in politics, and we have to find a way to change that. It was worse this year because we clearly saw the MSM (tr: the people who make a billion bucks selling ads) corrupt their election coverage with false narratives that helped them maximize their advertising income. ("This race is ever so close."
Having said all that, teevee advertising just doesn't work like it used to. Most of the people making these ad buy decisions grew up in the 60s, 70s or 80s and it was a whole different world then. There is no doubt that there is a diminishing returns effect. People were sick of seeing ads 6 months ago. I know that I have been so sick of them, I hit the mute button whenever I can. In fact, I often turn off the whole show, not just the ads because I am so sick of ads from both sides. So that last $600 million was mostly wasted.
Beyond that, a lot of people just don't look to teevee as much as they used to. I watch The Daily Show, maybe a bit of Rachael, and a couple of football games each week. Everything else in the Internet or the radio when I'm in the car. And in the car I have 5 stations queued up and often bounce to another station when an ad comes on. Maybe I am not typical of the average voter.
There is so much advertising of worthless products (because there are so many channels available for advertising) that I just don't pay attention to ANY advertising, political or otherwise. I mean, I don't need to see any more of that stupid lizard selling insurance. Political ads just can't be as effective as they were 20 years ago.
Basically what I am saying is that Karl Rove and his billionaires are still operating under thinking that was valid when Ben Cartwright and the boys were the only thing on teevee. So what works today?
I'm going to preach a little to the choir here.
It is social. But not "social networking" as in "spend a million bucks on Facebook ads" or "have a robot crank out a million Tweets all day long." It is the interaction among people. We all have networks of associates. To me, it is much more powerful to receive a well written article, a short video with a real message, or a cartoon that really hits a point. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the left has the brainpower to create really smart, succinct materials that really do influence people. It is our unfair advantage. I have found hundreds of such items here that I have used as the basis for messages that I used to challenge those in my circle of friends. I cannot specifically measure how much impact that has, but seeing a cartoon of Seamus strapped to the top of the Romney jet forms a lasting image -- much more lasting than anything you see in a political ad.
I'm not sure where this leads. I guess I'm looking for thoughts from others. What do you think had the most impact this year? If you had to guess how important this social exchange is compared to, say a billion bucks of teevee advertising, how do you think it compares? How could anybody ever really measure such a thing?
And the real payoff question, what can we be doing to condition the battlefield for 2014?
= new reply since forum marked as read
looking stumped 
DVR
No one watches that crap, they speed right by it.
