Too many of those ads stand out for all the wrong reasons

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Ads Look to Stand Out Amid the Political Clutter
By Ashley Parker, April 23, 2014

Video

The 2014 election cycle has ushered in a rush of political advertising, with campaign ads airing as early as last spring and record-shattering spending for the first quarter of the election year. Between television commercials (some top-notch nuggets of narrative storytelling) and web ads (which allow for a more madcap approach), nearly every day seems to bring about a new visual treat. Here is a look at some ads that managed to cut through the clutter: the good, the bad, and the zany.

Most Buzzed About

Mark Putnam, a Democratic ad maker who specializes in commercials for red state candidates, is the man to hire right now. The ads he produced for Senator Mark Begich of Alaska, who is among the most vulnerable of incumbents this year, are considered among the best on the Democratic side.

Mr. Putnam’s approach can be expensive. His ads tend to run for 60 seconds, twice the length of a standard one, and they have a painterly, cinematic feel.

One commercial for Mr. Begich, “Alaska’s Son,” not only links the senator to his Alaska roots, but also features old video of Mr. Begich’s father, Nick, a Democratic congressman who died in a plane crash in 1972. Another shows Mr. Begich cruising the state’s frozen tundra on a snowmobile, talking about his efforts to enable drilling. (The ad was the “second-hardest” Mr. Putnam has ever shot, he said; the minus-20-degree temperature caused one of the cameras to freeze up, and the “moonsuits” they wore made everything more difficult.)

On the Republican side, the ads by Americans for Prosperity, backed by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers, have generated significant attention, and not just for the dollars behind them — more than $30 million already. Many of their commercials feature an approach that is strikingly softer than those used by the Kochs in the past, with women sitting at a kitchen table, talking about the negative effects President Obama’s signature health care law has had on their lives.

Jonathan Symonds, spokesman for Ace Metrix, a company that tracks the effectiveness of ads, said the group’s commercials were largely outperforming other ads this cycle among independent voters.

Also of note: the web ad for Carl DeMaio, produced by Craft, a Republican media and digital agency. Mr. DeMaio, a gay Republican running for a congressional seat in California, produced a video that features him holding hands with his same-sex partner — the first such of its kind.

Most Buzzed About (For Reasons Unintended)

Ad makers want to see their creations go viral — but sometimes, ads make a splash for unintended reasons. Such was the case with an ad produced by a group called Generation Opportunity, urging young adults to “opt out” of the Affordable Care Act.

Appropriately called “Creepy Uncle Sam,” the video features a young woman at the gynecologist’s office — wearing a thin cotton gown, her legs in stirrups — as a ghoulish-looking Uncle Sam pops up between her thighs. The video got a lot of attention, but was ultimately derided as just a bit too creepy.

A web video for Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also fell flat after it accidentally featured an image of two Duke basketball players celebrating a victory instead of a photo of his home-state Kentucky Wildcats. (In defense of the ad maker, Lucas Baiano, both teams do wear blue and white uniforms. But still.)

The McConnell campaign quickly pulled the video, saying it was “horrified.” But that did not stop Matt Bevin, Mr. McConnell’s Tea Party-backed primary challenger, from airing an ad of his own with an image of Mr. McConnell in a Duke jersey.

Most Zany

Web-only videos give ad makers the chance to be a bit more irreverent, humorous and, yes, zany. Take the video attacking Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, made by the Boston-based FourTier Strategies.

J. D. Winteregg, a Tea Party-backed candidate running against Mr. Boehner, offers a spoof on Mr. Boehner’s name with a video modeled after a Cialis ad, which talks about “electile dysfunction.” Symptoms include “extreme skin discoloration” (Mr. Boehner is known for his year-round tan) and the inability to “maintain a spine in the face of liberal opposition.”

Another subcategory includes Republicans in Ads With Guns, Shooting at Things. See: Matt Rosendale, running for Montana’s seat in the House, shooting at a drone, and Will Brooke, running for a House seat from Alabama, shooting at the health care bill with a full arsenal (a pistol, a rifle and an AR-15 assault rifle) before finally dispatching it with a wood chipper. Bob Kish at Third Wave Communications made Mr. Brooke’s heavy-artillery spot, and OnMessage did Mr. Rosendale’s ad.

“There is an implication that you’re setting your sights on Washington, and you want to pull the trigger,” said Elizabeth Wilner, the senior vice president of Kantar Media Ad Intelligence, which tracks advertising.

But candidates are brandishing more than guns. In an ad viewed more than 500,000 times online, Joni Ernst, a Republican who is running for the Senate in Iowa, smiles at the camera and says, “I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm, so when I get to Washington, I’ll know how to cut pork.” Many believe the ad (produced by Todd Harris at Something Else Strategies) is compelling — and certainly attention-grabbing — while others consider it more likely to make them, well, squeal.
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