Between still taking care of your day job, managing your campaign volunteers, and nailing your stances on the issues, there’s often no time to worry about your digital ad campaigns when running for office. In 2022, Jason Critchlow ran for Trustee for Portage Township in South Bend. He partnered with Force 5 to build the awareness he needed through targeted investments in digital and traditional media. In the May primary, he captured a decisive victory with over 80% of the vote.
The Critchlow campaign captured its audience through a combination of:
- YouTube 5-Second Bumper Ads
- CTV 15-Second Ads
- Social Ads
- Local Media Website Placement
Our digital ads specialists refined bidding strategies to capture the correct demographic and geographic audiences; this effort ensured that every ad dollar was spent effectively. In addition, our web development team created a website where voters could find Critchlow’s stance on all the major issues.
Results
The results from the Critchlow Campaign’s media placement efforts were exceptional. Given that the campaign’s primary objective was to get the word out to motivate voting, impressions were considered the primary metric to measure success. Force 5 also paid attention to frequency–how many times a person would have seen an ad on average–because the team knew that the average person needed to hear something at least six times to reliably remember it.
YouTube
YouTube results for the Jason Critchlow campaign were all about reach and awareness within Portage Township zip codes. Capturing nearly 700,000 impressions in the lead-up to the election, Force 5 estimates that the average resident saw a Critchlow ad more than 7 times (based on total population). The actual frequency may be even higher; Force 5 excluded those under the voting age from seeing the ads.
CTV (Connected TV)
For connected TV advertising, Force 5 opted for a 15-second ad format. These ads aired on services like Pluto TV and Sling TV in pre-roll and ad breaks for targeted residents within the township.
Facebook and Instagram
The Critchlow campaign’s Facebook and Instagram strategy was divided into two major campaigns.
- REACH – The first campaign was all about reaching the widest possible audience of voters in the township to let them know Critchlow was on the ballot.
- AWARENESS – The second campaign was optimized for awareness, meaning it attempted to up the frequency of ads for eligible voters in the lead-up to election day.
Campaign Website
In addition to the digital ads, Force 5 also ensured the campaign had an online home. The Jason Critchlow for Trustee website shared who Jason was, what his views are, and why he is running for Trustee.
Local Media Placement
As a supplement to the service-based ads above, Force 5 also secured pre-roll advertising on local media stations’ digital sites. This meant that visitors would see a Critchlow campaign ad before playing content for local news stories. Because we wanted to reach a defined local audience, we chose WSBT and WNDU as the stations most popular with Portage Township voters.
A Successful Campaign
As the counts came in, Jason Critchlow took the Portage Township Trustee victory in the May 2022 Democratic Primary.
Critchlow commented:
“I’ve never seen a race so lopsided in a primary.”Jason Critchlow
When asked about his experiences with Force 5, Critchlow describes the team as hardworking, creative, and caring. The admiration goes both ways, with Force 5 Director of Digital Strategy praising Critchlow’s “willingness to hear and trust” the agency’s recommendations for digital strategy.
Ready to Start Your Journey?
If you are running for political office but need help navigating the complex digital ad world, Force 5 is here to be your guide.
Looking for more than just digital? Great! We’ve got a deep bench of services, too, including marketing strategy, media planning and placement, web design, content creation/strategy, graphic design, brand development, and video production.