Review the 3 new Kerry Ads

[California Dreamer]

As Bush's campaign tones down its ad buy the Kerry campaign is ramping theirs up. 3 new 30 second ads have been developed.

Two are specific themes (Environment and Pro Choice/Supreme court), one is more generic. All 3 have an attack element (or as they like to say 'contrast') to  them. Most interesting they have a 'grassroots' type of theme to them, all ending with a significant 'join the campaign' message.



My thoughts
1 these are very good ads for the base. They remind the base of how important the election is for the economy, a womans right to choose and the environment. All adopt a Howard Dean style online/we can do this together kind of feel. The 'call to action' is very explicit and will probably help bring in more volunteers and donations.

2 These are not very good ads for swing voters. They dont do much to define John Kerry or to counter the Bush attack ads on 'weak on defence' or 'bad on taxes'. It is a critical time in the campaign for Kerry to define himself before Bush/Rove do it for him. It is important that they get more ads out there soon that do that.

3 From a production point of view these ads seemed like 'canned political ads' with generic imagery and an unseen announcer. Only in the Environmental Ad is Kerry shown making a statement regarding the ad theme, which makes it the best of the 3. All of the ads are in 2 parts 1. opening with 'the bad GW' then transitioning to how you can help Kerry change it all, yet the imagery, music and voiceover dont really change so it is less clear to the casual viewer (people dont pay as much attention to ads as much as agencies think)

All in all I would give these ads a B-
They get a particular short term job done, but will see very little use past the conventions.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ADS

[ShapeShifter]

As Bush's campaign tones down its ad buy the Kerry campaign is ramping theirs up. 3 new 30 second ads have been developed.

Two are specific themes (Environment and Pro Choice/Supreme court), one is more generic. All 3 have an attack element (or as they like to say 'contrast') to  them. Most interesting they have a 'grassroots' type of theme to them, all ending with a significant 'join the campaign' message.



My thoughts
1 these are very good ads for the base. They remind the base of how important the election is for the economy, a womans right to choose and the environment. All adopt a Howard Dean style online/we can do this together kind of feel. The 'call to action' is very explicit and will probably help bring in more volunteers and donations.

2 These are not very good ads for swing voters. They dont do much to define John Kerry or to counter the Bush attack ads on 'weak on defence' or 'bad on taxes'. It is a critical time in the campaign for Kerry to define himself before Bush/Rove do it for him. It is important that they get more ads out there soon that do that.

3 From a production point of view these ads seemed like 'canned political ads' with generic imagery and an unseen announcer. Only in the Environmental Ad is Kerry shown making a statement regarding the ad theme, which makes it the best of the 3. All of the ads are in 2 parts 1. opening with 'the bad GW' then transitioning to how you can help Kerry change it all, yet the imagery, music and voiceover dont really change so it is less clear to the casual viewer (people dont pay as much attention to ads as much as agencies think)

All in all I would give these ads a B-
They get a particular short term job done, but will see very little use past the conventions.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ADS

These ads are not for swing voters.

Swing voters are tuning out.

However, people still interested are Democrats. These ads are basically to get more money.

[Ben.]

If there designed for Dems ok... But Kerry still needs to cement who he is in people's minds... he needs a nice slick bio-pic ad...I'd give the ads a C... I would say that Bush ads far outstrip these attempts by Kerry's team…

Bush will effectively be off the air for two or three weeks according to his campaign and my suggestions to the Kerry team…

.You have a window in which to define your man without Republican rebuttal, polls have shown that the rise in Bush’s positives and Kerry negatives is a fairly transitory and superficial change, so define your candidate while you have this chance, pouring out ads aimed at the base will not help.

.Produce a bio-pic ad, talk about Kerry the man, emphasis his courage in Vietnam, his concern for the environment and generally the “he fighting for us message”.

.Produce an ad concerning defence, yes its risky but if you do not address this you are conceding the point to Bush, people are concerned about the war in Iraq and the security of the United States, produce a hawkish ad, attacking Bush from the right over lack of resolve in Iraq and losing sight of al-quida, get some authoritative voices to speak in your favour people who can be considered strong on national defence. Take these republican attacks on your positions on defence head on.

.Two themes to hammer home over the next two to four weeks… “Who You Are” and “Why Bush is failing in the War on Terror”… don’t mention the UN or gaining new allies as central to your critique instead definite your argument by what the situation is in Iraq at the moment with the allies we have on the ground… DO NOT give the impression that you wish to go cap in hand to the UN or the anti-war Europeans for more troops and assistance, show resolve and attack Bush for a lack of it…these two themes are essential to regain any poll lead Imho at this point…

.After this campaign focusing on “You” and “Defence” shift to a new campaign, pivot towards taxation, while at the same time develop your “You” ads and try and combine them with your push on national security issues “Service” being the important theme… on Taxation talk the langue of populism, draw a comparison between your sensible and coherent polices on taxation and Bush’s reckless polices bereft as they are of any real benefit for the middle classes… but remember to adapt these ads to republican moves and events in the wider world however do not allow them to define the debate or dictate your strategy…                              

[ShapeShifter]

If there designed for Dems ok... But Kerry still needs to cement who he is in people's minds... he needs a nice slick bio-pic ad...I'd give the ads a C... I would say that Bush ads far outstrip these attempts by Kerry's team…

Bush will effectively be off the air for two or three weeks according to his campaign and my suggestions to the Kerry team…

.You have a window in which to define your man without Republican rebuttal, polls have shown that the rise in Bush’s positives and Kerry negatives is a fairly transitory and superficial change, so define your candidate while you have this chance, pouring out ads aimed at the base will not help.

.Produce a bio-pic ad, talk about Kerry the man, emphasis his courage in Vietnam, his concern for the environment and generally the “he fighting for us message”.

.Produce an ad concerning defence, yes its risky but if you do not address this you are conceding the point to Bush, people are concerned about the war in Iraq and the security of the United States, produce a hawkish ad, attacking Bush from the right over lack of resolve in Iraq and losing sight of al-quida, get some authoritative voices to speak in your favour people who can be considered strong on national defence. Take these republican attacks on your positions on defence head on.

.Two themes to hammer home over the next two to four weeks… “Who You Are” and “Why Bush is failing in the War on Terror”… don’t mention the UN or gaining new allies as central to your critique instead definite your argument by what the situation is in Iraq at the moment with the allies we have on the ground… DO NOT give the impression that you wish to go cap in hand to the UN or the anti-war Europeans for more troops and assistance, show resolve and attack Bush for a lack of it…these two themes are essential to regain any poll lead Imho at this point…

.After this campaign focusing on “You” and “Defence” shift to a new campaign, pivot towards taxation, while at the same time develop your “You” ads and try and combine them with your push on national security issues “Service” being the important theme… on Taxation talk the langue of populism, draw a comparison between your sensible and coherent polices on taxation and Bush’s reckless polices bereft as they are of any real benefit for the middle classes… but remember to adapt these ads to republican moves and events in the wider world however do not allow them to define the debate or dictate your strategy…                              

http://www.johnkerry.com/videos/console.php?video=042104_riskad

http://www.johnkerry.com/videos/console.php?video=042104_commitmentad

What do you think???

[Ben.]

There both good… really my opinion of the two ads before these was low in back I think a c- would be on the generous side, more like a solid D… these on the other had I think merit about a B-… there good spots, not great but good… they are brief, but that is their nature I suppose… “Risk” is the better of the two, note: John please don’t wear that black jacket, it makes you look too broad and lurch like, stick with the blue shirts and red ties …

As I said much better ads than those two earlier ones (please pull those ads as soon as possible, there bad, really bad!)… good ads, but what is lacking is a broad all encompassing vision, he attempted to get his in the “commitment” ad, and I am afraid he didn’t quite pull it off, strangely enough the kind of bio-ad that would have most impact imho would be a kind of “man from hope”, “American son style ad” condensed into one minute, with a narrator and perhaps one line or two from Kerry and then narrator and then end with Kerry’s “I am John Kerry and I approve this message”…

I think Kerry’s team seem to be working towards a more solid bio-ad, but he should try and define himself as a politician and a person rather than as a candidate (which will come latte) not by the current issues but by his life experience… I think they are working towards something of that sort and I sure hope they are… but these are good ads, solid and effective, but not as good as they could be…                                                      

[Ben.]

Kick!

[lidaker]

When Kerry pronounces "situation" in that "Risk" ad, he sounds EXACTLY like Dean.

[lidaker]

But it's probably NOT a deliberate attempt to get the Nader vote.

[StevenNick]

I can't imagine a swing voter being positively influenced by this ad.  The only people who will respond to these ads are people who detest Bush.  Most Americans, although not all pro-Bush, certainly don't detest the man and will be turned off by ads like these.

I give these a "D" for failing to appeal to swing voters, highlighting issues that most people aren't too concerned about, and failing to produce any facts to back up the anti-Bush assertions.

John Kerry could do a whole lot better than this.

[Ben.]

I can't imagine a swing voter being positively influenced by this ad.  The only people who will respond to these ads are people who detest Bush.  Most Americans, although not all pro-Bush, certainly don't detest the man and will be turned off by ads like these.

I give these a "D" for failing to appeal to swing voters, highlighting issues that most people aren't too concerned about, and failing to produce any facts to back up the anti-Bush assertions.

John Kerry could do a whole lot better than this.

True! I agree a D is about right... what did you think of my suggestions? higher up the thread... on the Bush ads, he has done some pretty good ones, the ones with him and Laura are very strong ads, great music, good images... great tone overall, in the latest Kerry ads we've seen shades of this but he just not taking my advice but the ads in the link seem like ones left over from the primaries.... really amateur Kerry can and has done much better, and Bush sure has...
   

[StevenNick]

I think your suggestions are dead on.  Rather than come away from those ads thinking that John Kerry has a message and a plan, I came away thinking John Kerry is shrill, puerile, and small.  The issues that he focuses on are third tier all the way and the tone is too angry.

Plus at the end when John Kerry says something about promising to fight George Bush every day he seemed ultra small.  I was thinking, "gee, I remember when candidates used to talk about fighting for me, for the voters and all John Kerry can talk about is fighting George Bush?"  He just seemed so small in those ads.  I don't know how else to put it.

[Ben.]

I think your suggestions are dead on.  Rather than come away from those ads thinking that John Kerry has a message and a plan, I came away thinking John Kerry is shrill, puerile, and small.  The issues that he focuses on are third tier all the way and the tone is too angry.

Plus at the end when John Kerry says something about promising to fight George Bush every day he seemed ultra small.  I was thinking, "gee, I remember when candidates used to talk about fighting for me, for the voters and all John Kerry can talk about is fighting George Bush?"  He just seemed so small in those ads.  I don't know how else to put it.

Thanks... i just dont know why it is taking so long for Kerry to put forward the image of himself that he can, g** dame it!... i mean bush has hit the nail in plenty of his ads why cant Kerry?... the latest two Kerry ads (not the ones in the link) are better but can be improved upon dramatically...

[Ben.]

http://www.moveon.org/pac/warrecord/



I have been worried that moveon would be too liberal in their attacks... making attacks on Bush and supporting Kerry in a way which really didn’t help Kerry with moderate voters...this however as an ad in style and substance is good, not great...but far far better than I was expecting, very well done a solid B...tricky issue well handled...

[classical liberal]

funny

[Ben.]

funny

How so?

[Ben.]

funny

How so?

How So?