Making political TV spots that work in an age of media clutter - Cover Story

Context - which changes from day to day, even hour to hour, and certainly, from campaign to campaign - is everything when it comes to conceptualizing and producing political ads. A spot that works brilliantly in one campaign may bring utter disaster to another.

Producing political television spots is one of the purest forms of results-oriented work. If your ads fail to get your candidate elected, whatever has come before - primarily a lot of painstaking work - means absolutely nothing. The stakes are, indeed, extraordinarily high. But, unfortunately, determining a "magic" formula, or even a set of steadfast rules, for the kinds of creative and technical approaches that produce effective political TV spots is an impossible task.

Even the most seasoned TV production specialists have difficulty nailing down the essence of a good spot. Media consultant Ray Strother, who is certainly no stranger to the nuances of creating campaign ads, has grappled with this elusive concept for years. "I don't know what a good TV commercial is, nor do you," he says. "A good commercial is one that works for certain circumstances at a particular time."

Context - which changes from day to day, even hour to hour, and certainly, from campaign to campaign - is everything when it comes to conceptualizing and producing political ads. A spot that works brilliantly in one campaign may bring utter disaster to another. The only "formula" that seems to work is recognizing the reality that any approach must be adapted to the continuously shifting political landscape.

The one constant in this whole uncertain equation is that voters are expert at watching TV. So, be warned, the audience you are trying to appeal to has a well-trained eye. Americans know TV because they watch it voraciously - on average, nearly eight hours a day. They know what they like - yes, even when it comes to commercials - and they're not afraid to surf through, say, a hundred channels to find it.

For political candidates, that translates into stiff competition for the attention of viewers. The remote control channel changer can be one of their most formidable opponents.

"People are terrifically competent at receiving information," says media consultant Stuart Stevens, who argues that the way to get political spots noticed is to make them higher quality. Even voters who "may not know how to read know how to look and watch," he says. That's why he advises campaigns to "use good cameramen, the right equipment and good lighting. You want to avoid the prisoner-in-captivity look for your candidate."

With television sets in 98 percent of American homes, the impact of political spots is potentially huge. But remember, Americans take their TV seriously, and there's a lot of competition out there. Grabbing and holding a viewer's attention is no small feat. Furthermore, research shows that Americans don't particularly like political spots-yet another obstacle to reaching and moving audiences.

A recent Pew Research Center study found that voters prefer news reports over paid ads as a source of information about candidates. However, 63 percent of the voters surveyed said they often don't become aware of political candidates until they see their ads. Further, 47 percent of the poll's sample said they can get a sense of what a candidate is like personally through his or her TV ads; 51 percent said they could not. Although effective spots come in all shapes and sizes, there are some fundamental creative concepts and techniques that have been time-tested and have worked - at least under certain circumstances, at certain times. The bulk of these approaches center on making spots that stand out from the rest of the clutter on television today. In this business, that's as good a place to start as any.

So, to provide some guidance in this all too uncertain world, a number of political media consultants serve up their ideas on how to produce spots that work.

1. Research, research, research. The best media consultants will tell you that research is the cornerstone to creating effective ads. In fact, their First Commandment is often said to be: "Know thy candidate."

"You must take the candidate and find his or her weaknesses and make sure you're aware of them all the way down the line," Strother says.

The only effective way to do that is with exhaustive research, probing and fact-checking. "If you hire a media consultant who doesn't know you, the candidate, then you might as well have hired a robot, a stranger or a local ad agency without political experience to come in and make your commercials," Strother continues. He suggests that four things must be done:

First, the candidate should give to the consultant complete career and background information. That includes every newspaper clip in which the candidate has been mentioned. The consultant should also be given access to talk to the candidate's friends, colleagues and family members.

Second, the consultant should spend no less than three days living, eating and traveling with the candidate to get to know him or her as fully as possible.

Third, the consultant should interview the candidate on videotape (or, if necessary, audio tape). And then study the tape. The video will tell a consultant, among other things, whether the candidate can deliver lines to a camera.

Fourth, the consultant needs to observe the candidate's physical characteristics. Height, weight, scars, hairlines, etc. are all important. All of this has to be kept in mind when producing such ads for such a powerful, yet delicate, medium.

The Second Commandment of a media consultant is: "Know thy opponent." Consultants should not only review newspaper clips and study video tapes of news programs ad naseum, but should also go to public functions to observe the opposition on his or her own. According to Strother, the next step for media producers is crucial and often overlooked: "Sit down at the computer and write some commercials for your opponent," he explains. "If I represented this person, what would I say?" That'll help provide a sense of objectivity about the candidates and underscore how the weaknesses of both contenders will play a vital role in the crafting and production of the media message.

Diane Cromer of Keefer Cromer also stresses the benefit of research, especially for attack response ads. "The goal is to have scripts prepared, and if you've done your front-end research properly you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect. You can almost predict what the opposition will say. So, when the time comes, you're way ahead of the game."

2. Tell the candidate's story. "I believe in story-telling," says media producer Joe Slade White, "It's how you make candidates into human beings that voters can relate to. It's how you make important, but cold and impersonal, issues into something that's personal and moving for voters. Looking toward the human side is the real secret."

Here's a case in point. One of White's congressional candidates was a high school drop out - a piece of personal history the candidate would have rather forgotten. But his candidate eventually finished high school and went on to college after serving valiantly in Vietnam. White explains how a potentially damaging biographical note can be used to a candidate's advantage through accurate, honest story-telling.

"The irony about story-telling is that you can turn that 'dropping out of high school' into an incredible plus. It can show how your candidate understands the value of education in a way that other people don't."

Cromer, too, is a believer in the storytelling approach. She also recommends caving the Hollywood special effects and glitter out of most political ads. "We are crying to communicate a sense of confidence through the integrity and honesty of he candidate... So whether it's third-party endorsements, a man-on-the-street testimonial or a straight-into-the - camera kind of conversation, the flash and flourishes need not be so recognizable. That will allow he values of the candidate to come through as the dominant feature of a commercial."

3. Use specific information and make specific claims. Nobody likes to be taken for a fool. So, a good rule of thumb for TV spot production is to treat the viewer as someone with common sense who has at least basic intelligence. That means, among other things, that you need to shoot straight. Don't make claims or promises a reasonable, average person knows can't be delivered. Underestimating voter perception is a mistake.

"We believe in presenting specific information to voters," says Don Millar of the Conover Millar Group. "We've found that very limited, very specific information is far more effective than grandiose theoretical statements." He advises candidates and their campaigns to "focus on limited, achievable goals that people actually agree with and believe you can achieve."

4. Use "real" language. The language in campaign ads should mirror the language of the voting public. On TV, as in other media, the candidate should talk about the issues the way "real" people do. Nothing will turn off viewers more quickly than a candidate who uses inflated "elitist" or "insider" language. A 30-second TV spot is not the place to showcase a candidate's prodigious vocabulary. Candidates should speak to the electorate, not over its head.

"One of things I say to my clients is that our ads need to talk about the issues in the same way that people talk about them when they sit down at their dinner table," says David Heller of Mainstreet Media. "If you're going to talk about the issues, do it in a way that people understand - in a way that relates to them."

White offers an example that takes these principles and applies them to this year's hot issue of education. "Nobody sends their kids to education," he says. "I always tell my candidates not to talk about education. Talk about classrooms, about schools...about teachers and students - not education...That makes it real to voters."

5. Draw clear comparisons. When voters are deciding who to vote for come election day, they look for clear differences between candidates. "You want to draw clear comparatives between your candidate and the opponent on the issues," emphasizes consultant Peter Fenn of Fenn and King. He provided this example: If one candidate signs a patient 'bill of rights' and refuses to take money from big insurance companies and the other candidate won't sign the 'bill of rights' and has taken $40,000 from the big insurance companies, then "Boom!" says Fenn, "Lay it right out for the voters, let them decide."

Again, don't underestimate the intelligence of the voter. The trick here is to maintain the discipline not to throw in unnecessary or flowery words just to pump up the candidate's ego. Let the facts speak for themselves - the voter will respond if they're accurate and well documented.

6. Use humor - especially in negative spots. Voters often resent slashing, heavy-handed negative ads. They've grown weary of a snarling, smug "Anything you can do I can do better" approach.

According to consultant Heller, humor is a powerful force in an attack ad. He cites the response ads he produced for a congressional candidate in Ohio who was running against a GOP incumbent as an example. The incumbent, according to Heller, had cast the deciding vote on legislation involving pollution levels in Lake Erie that could affect the local drinking water. Heller made a spot that went after the incumbent on the pollution issue but did so by focusing on a humorous aspect of a not-so-funny situation. The ad asked the question: Why would anyone agree to allow Ohio's drinking water to be polluted? The camera then cuts to a shot of delivery men wheeling bottled water into the incumbent's office. Voiceover: Congressman X spent $2,000 on bottled water during the course of his campaign. Elderly Woman: I bet if he had to drink the same water as us, no way he votes for that bill.

7. Never use a teleprompter. Voters can often detect when a candidate is reading from a teleprompter, and it comes across as affected and disengenuous. If the candidate has to read a script from a teleprompter, a sense is easily created that he or she is not speaking from the heart.

"Never, ever use a teleprompter," Strother warns. "It always comes across as bull, believe me."

8. Don't be afraid to use unorthodox techniques. Marketing analysts have revealed that the average American is exposed to over 20,000 radio, TV, newspaper and outdoor ads, sales pitches, flyers, coupons, signs and other promotions every week. That creates a communications environment difficult for a political candidate or cause to get noticed in.

On TV, you have to grab and hold the attention of the viewer quickly, or the remote control will replace your spot with something else. One way to capture attention is to show something unique. There are a number of production techniques that can be used to separate your spot from the others without employing the silly gimmicks that many commercial advertisers use such as blinking lights, blaring sound effects, outrageous stunts and zany spokespersons.

"Black and white spots have an amazing effect on color TV - they stand out," says Joe Slade White of one possible technique. "Standing out from the clutter is important in TV today. It's not just the clutter of political ads, it's the clutter of all the ads."

White also suggests occasionally producing audio tracks for TV ads that have no spoken words, only music. "Television is always thought of as a visual medium, but it is always talking," White says. "You come home from work and turn on the TV, and it's talk, talk, talk...but if all of a sudden you hear nothing but music, your eyes will turn to the screen. It's one of the oldest tricks I have. If I want people to watch, I don't say anything, I just use music."

Stu Stevens says one production technique he's had success with in attracting attention to his spots is to use "a lot of cameras that move, this adds an element of interest and excitement" to political ads.

9. Take advantage of high-tech advances. There is a host of new technologies and computer software that can make TV production a little easier, quicker and even occasionally less expensive. The savvy media consultant will take advantage of these.

"The ability to create animation with new kinds of software allow media consultants to create things that used to take days in the field and cost thousands of dollars," Diane Cromer explains. "They can now be done relatively quickly, in-house, for a few hundred dollars."

Technological advances in editing and throughout the post-production process have had the biggest impact. "Recent changes in desktop editing allows for unbelievable flexibility, speed and turnaround," Peter Fenn says. "This is especially true with basic tabletop spots and response ads. It also gives you same-day turnaround. So, if you're getting attacked in the morning, you can have a response spot out by evening, via satellite." Fenn warns that, "Anyone who tells you it's going to take three or four days to get a response ad up should be making used car ads, not political ads."

10. Make video look like film. New techniques coupled with new technology enable media producers to turn video into realistic-looking film. This is great news for consultants who have always considered film to be too expensive, but have always preferred its dramatic and romantic "feel" to video.

"Every political consultant wishes he could use film," says Tom Edmonds of Edmonds & Associates. "But, more often than not, you can't afford it because you don't have the budget, and sometimes you don't have the time. And due to costs you go to 16mm as opposed to 35mm when you do use film."

Drawing the distinction, Edmonds says that "video tape has a more current 'now' feel about it and film has a more 'reflective' feel. They each excel in different areas so it depends on the nature of the spot." He adds that, "The techniques now available to get video to look like film are greatly improved from where they were just a few years ago." One way to do that, he suggests, is to process the tape after the fact.

Despite some disadvantages, filmed spots are still used in major campaigns that have large campaign buys to justify the production expense. "Film is being used in 90 percent of my statewide races," says GOP consultant Stuart Stevens. "The cost relative to video tape is no longer a lot more and the quality is much better. With the ability to convert from film to video and then edit, the production time is less. New technologies - like AVID's - have done for the TV spot editing process what electronic publishing did for writing. It makes it faster and better."

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