Do Political Ads Matter?

In the old days when money bought attention, they certainly did.

However political marketing today still relies on mass marketing. Why? Because it's a zero sum game. That's right winner takes all and the losers go home. How many still matters more than "who". Yes mass marketing is not dead in this arena...yet.

It also helps that largest bloc of Canadian voters are the baby boomers; and they still pay attention to traditional advertising, especially political ads.

What about the younger ones? Youtube is a fun place to hang out altough the viewership is still low. Something political parties should think about when they look to engage the "unreachables"

This is only one area where niche marketing doesn't do well. Just ask the Green Party.

So the answer is a yes and no. Political marketing is a great recipe for an integrated marketing communications approach. The key lies in the execution (see organization post). Those that can bridge new marketing (for younger voters) and traditional marketing (for older ones) can do quite well in the next election.

It also helps if you target the undecided instead of preaching to the converted. Especially if the converted wasn't going to vote for you in the first place!