Advertising in an election year! (...and Olympics...)

There has been so much going on recently in the world of advertising and political initiatives for the upcoming year!

For those of you who are trying to follow everything, here is a quick and easy reference sheet for what can and can not be done from an advertising standpoint in the coming year, along with what companies are allowing political ads and to what extent. As things change, I will try to keep this updated and accurate, so feel free to bookmark it and come back to stay up to date!

Below are some very basic rules for any FCC regulated broadcast company, which includes both Radio & TV. For FULL rules regarding advertising in political windows and broadcast requirements and responsibilities, you can visit FCC.gov.

Political Windows:

Political Windows are defined as follows: The 45 days before any Primary Election & the 60 days preceding a General Election. Within these timeframes, FEDERAL CANDIDATES are guaranteed the lowest unit rate (LUR) during specific monitored dayparts in order to keep the playing field even. Although State and Local candidates are NOT required to receive LUR, most broadcast companies will extend LUR to all candidates. Political Action Committees (PACs) and Political Party Committees are also NOT required by the FCC to receive LUR.

In the DC region, we have Primaries for Virginia, Maryland and The District. These Elections are being held respectively on March 3rd, April 28th and June 16th. What this means for advertisers in the DC region is that the DMA will be under a political window starting January 18th through June 16th, 2020. There are a few days that fall outside of the windows within that timeframe, but overall, that's five months of political window just for the Primaries alone.

General Election windows are 60 days prior to the General Election, which this year falls on November 3rd, 2020. This puts the region back under political window from 9/4/2020 - 11/3/2020, two more months of consideration.

2020 Presents an interesting consideration to add to the melee, with the Summer Olympics landing right in one of the only times where there isn't a political window; 7/24/20 - 8/9/20. You can also count on a deluge of advertising in the two weeks leading up to the Olympics.

In case you're wondering what that looks like (I was curious, figured you might be as well...) I've shaded this broadcast calendar to illustrate those dates.

...and to discreetly place my company's brand within this post (#sponsoredimage).

Green is political windows, Red is Olympics:

WHAT THIS MEANS:

Undoubtedly, 2020 is one of the hottest contested political races and this means that all candidates, PACs and parties will be spending a LOT of money to ensure their name gets the most consideration at the ballot box, or that their competitors name gets less consideration. Article after article has talked about the unprecedented amount of money that will be spent on advertising this year.

Recent developments in the digital space have further complicated this year's advertising with several companies taking strong stances on political advertising. This is the piece that keeps changing, and I'll likely have to come back and update repeatedly:

- Spotify announced they will NOT be airing political ads as of 1/6/2020.

- Twitter has announced they are banning political ads entirely, although it remains to be seen if they'll determine the President's own tweets should be considered "ads" or not...

- Facebook WILL take all advertising, political or not, but is refusing any sort of accountability for the content of those ads. Meaning they will not be fact checking or verifying the accuracy of any ads.

- SnapChat, surprisingly, will both be accepting political ads AND fact-checking them for accuracy.

- Google will allow political advertising, however, they have reduced the amount of "micro-targeting" options that will be available. Essentially, they've removed the very intricate targeting they have previously offered, which allows for greater ad oversight and reduced opportunity for specific messages designed to inflame a small group.

HOW WILL THIS AFFECT POLITICAL ADVERTISERS?

With all of the shifting in policy, many campaigns will be struggling to keep up & scrambling for new tactics or ideas. It also signals a potential return to more traditional media like broadcast TV, Radio & Print. However, inventory in these mediums is at a high premium and will be very difficult to secure with the myriad of candidates vying for the same commercial space.

HOW WILL THIS AFFECT NON-POLITICAL ADVERTISERS?

This is the REAL question isn't it? You may be thinking you're not advertising a political campaign so why do you care?

Inventory, demand and environment are why you should care.

INVENTORY: It simply will not be available, especially on Broadcast Television. Radio will also be tight & in higher demand than normal.

DEMAND: Higher demand, and more crowded advertiser environments leads to higher pricing, and that "Lowest Unit Rate" referenced earlier means that no one, political or otherwise can purchase below that rate. Please understand that LUR means lowest being offered during that time frame. Each outlet reserves the right to dictate what that will be based on the demand they're seeing.

ENVIRONMENT: Consider what commercial breaks will look like, what they'll sound like. Both on TV, in Print and on Radio. Do you want your brand's commercial adjacent to the myriad of mudslinging spots that unavoidably will dominate the airwaves?

SO WHAT CAN I DO?

While traditional media should always be part of a branding strategy, there are other ways to get that done - it IS 2020 after all!

Check out podcasting, SmartAudio options, OTT Video insertion, email marketing, or other newer ways to reach people you want to know your brand. It's a great time to try out new mediums and do some A/B testing with strong analytics to see what can work!

If you're wanting to maintain broadcast presence, look to endorsements with station personalities both on TV and radio to maintain the "above the fray" brand image and help cut through the clutter that will be unavoidable during this year.

Every brand is unique, and deserves a unique approach to their advertising campaign. There is no cookie cutter "right answer" for your branding, direct response, or B2B campaign. It requires a lot of conversation with your advertising partners to determine what is the right path for your campaign. If you made it this far, I'd love to hear any other complications or pitfalls to avoid in the coming year, below in the comments!

Finally if you'd like to dive more in-depth into the world of political advertising and what it means for non-political advertisers, there is a fantastic review I found - attached below in the comments!

As always - good luck in your advertising projects & I'm always glad to help if you want to reach out!