Does this bring in money or votes? Newsletter 34
Hello and happy post-election season, everyone! We hope you’re catching up on some well-deserved rest. We’re Claire Liu and Simón Prieto, the DNC’s Deputy Digital Ads Director and Senior Digital Ads Strategist.
One of the biggest takeaways of this midterm cycle was the undeniable importance of reproductive freedom for voters nationwide. With the Supreme Court’s decision weighing heavily, choice-motivated voters turned out in droves to protect the right to choose.
Today, we’re diving into Defend Choice, Vote Early, an innovative ads program the DNC launched ahead of the midterm elections. This program combined data-driven research, compelling creative, and close alignment of on-the-ground and online strategy. We served videos focused on reproductive freedom to choice-motivated GOTV voters in sync with the duration of early voting in various key states.
The Why
In the months following the Dobbs ruling, the research was clear: The fight for reproductive freedom had sparked a renewed and powerful wave of Democratic enthusiasm. Wins in Kansas and special elections, and an abundance of polling highlighted how abortion rights had quickly become one of the most important issues for both motivating and persuading key voters.
Reproductive freedom was an animating factor for Latino voters, and choice-focused messaging emerged as a compelling avenue for consolidating support. In a national survey conducted in July and August, UnidosUS found that over 70% of Latino voters believe abortion should remain legal. And according to the NALEO tracking poll, abortion emerged as the second-most important issue for likely Latino voters leading up to Election Day.
At the DNC, we recognized the opportunity at hand – and the unique role that a well-targeted and multi-channel digital ads campaign could play in getting choice-motivated voters to the polls.
The Who
With the expertise of our talented data science team, we built an audience of strong GOTV targets in Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. By GOTV targets, we mean folks who are likely to support Democrats and have a medium midterm turnout likelihood. The analytics team then refined this audience to align with the research discussed earlier by layering on a strong pro-choice likelihood score.
To tighten up our audience even further, we worked with our political team to identify districts with especially competitive Congressional and/or state legislative races across key battleground states to layer on top of our existing list. We then built another audience using similar criteria (strong GOTV candidate, likely pro-choice), but this time narrowing specifically for Latino voters.
To serve our ads to the right folks in the right moment, we divided this audience of choice-motivated GOTV voters into three flights – one flight in states that launched early voting in early October, a second in states with early voting beginning in late October, and a third directed at Latino voters in districts with competitive races throughout the country.
The How
In partnership with our communications team, we created ads that contrasted Republicans’ attempts to ban abortion with Democrats’ commitment to defend choice. Our videos reminded voters of their power to help protect reproductive freedom, and directed viewers to IWillVote.com to make an early voting plan.
Thanks to the creative expertise of our design team, this message took the form of compelling videos and a display graphic. Our 15 and 30-second videos were produced with a digital-first approach, sized and cut appropriately for online platforms. Videos were produced in both English and Spanish.
Conclusion
Here at the DNC, we’re all about “nested opportunities.” That means we’re always searching for ways to make sure our investments move the needle in multiple races at once. And that’s exactly what the Defend Choice, Vote Early campaign accomplished.
Through digital ads, we spoke to hundreds of thousands of choice-motivated voters about turning out early to protect reproductive freedom. These voters helped decide critical elections across multiple battleground states, up and down the ballot, and made clear that they will vote to defend choice. Across the regions we targeted, Democrats won 15 of the 16 House districts, defended every state legislative majority, flipped three state legislative chambers, won six of seven governors races, and won six of seven Senate races. In close races, we know that every little bit counts and we’re proud of the small role we played to help reach voters who voted to protect reproductive rights this cycle.
Defend Choice, Vote Early showcases what innovative and intentional investments in digital can look like:
Highly data-driven audience development
Synchronized messaging and targeting
Ads that meet the political moment while maximizing the impact of every dollar spent
Thank you so much for tuning in today and for all your hard work this cycle.
Until next time,
Claire, Simón, and the rest of the Digital Ads Team
