Linky goodness:
The Application in the Apple Store
The Page at the Zuckenberg Empire
My previous Diary about this venture listed all the writers and a flavour of the magazine format one can expect to see as a subscriber to GOS Weekly Review.
Seriously, they are a talented bunch who are beavering away adding value to the site we love and, as an added bonus, they let me write for them too :) I kid you not. I feel quite humble in the company of Jeff Lieber, BiPM, Susan from 29, et al.
It occurred to me that there may be Kossacks who would like to see at least some of the material actually published. Even though there is a one week free trial available, it can't hurt to offer an example here. Bear in mind that in the actual App. you can do slidy and tappy things, and jump about and see neat splash screens. The font and appearance is different to Daily Kos, but the material is pure Kossack.
I am going to use the Article mentioned in the Title, and seen on the Cover above because a) It's typical and b) I wrote it!
So, without further ado, and re-formatted for this medium, I give you:
Harry, Louise and Daisy
As I sit here typing this, the whole area is locked down pretty tight. I am in a hotel with my family about one block from the scene of a terrible mass shooting in Aurora, CO. We came here on vacation yet are left feeling empty. The thoughts of all of my family go to the victims of this terrible event.
In a brief piece built around the above video, The Troubador (David Harris Gershon) superbly demonstrated how the careful and thoughtful use of Campaign Advertising can literally change the game. The above ad is the latest in a long tradition of using the broadcast media to move elections this way, or that.
The response was overwhelming, as this is clearly a subject that resonates with all sides of the political spectrum. In this comment, theKgirls captures the very essences of the modus operandi of Bain Capital.:
“In reality, Bain went after companies that were sitting on cash and sucked it dry. They failed because they took on too much debt, debt that was used to finance the purchase and line the pockets of the investors. It was not debt that helped the company grow and prosper.”
The point being made by Democrats is simply that while Romney feels that his talents can be employed to rebuild our businesses, and our economy, the truth is quite different. Undoubtedly Mitt Romney has been a successful man, but crucially, his success has been centered around Bain Capital, and his own personal wealth. The businesses that Bain invested in did not necessarily grow, or prosper. Indeed many failed, yet Bain made profits on most of their ventures.
Advertising is in the news this week. Doubtless it will continue to be so, as the Users of DailyKos and other debating forums right across the political spectrum continue to discuss the continuing fall-out from Citizens United.
It has long been said that we increasingly live in a “sound-bite” world. The time for mature reflection is not the purview of political campaigning, if indeed it ever was. The old conventional wisdom was that “all politics is local”. I’m sure that in some places, some races, much of that holds true; but in a general election dominated by two Campaigns and a small handful of SuperPacs, the end result will be influenced heavily on the quality and quantity of the television advertising.
The tradition is a long one. Way back in 1964, the following television ad from the Johnson Campaign attacked the resolve of Barry Goldwater on defense matters. The ad only ran once but was so stark that it had an effect on the entire campaign
In a very similar vein, “Harry and Louise” came along in the early nineties to wreak havoc on the Clinton Campaign. These messages play right into the area of “Identity Politics”. One may care that they convey an entirely false impression, indeed one may go so far as to say that they are deliberate lies. The point is that they so perfectly match the fears of the electorate, that it doesn’t matter that they are not true. The message is out and it is nigh on impossible to wind it back.
“Harry and Louise” finally came clean many years later. In the recent Health Care debate, the middle aged couple finally recognised that their chickens were coming home to roost.
The Obama Campaign has ramped up their efforts to change the perception that business experience is their opponents strength with well-crafted offerings such as this:
Regardless of the views of Mitt Romney’s singing voice, and Kossacks have freely shared those opinions this week, the way the audio has been used as stark counter-point to the graphics, is masterful. A very powerful ad and the Campaign staff were keen to discuss the production with Talking Points Memo:
“A team of five or six people worked on the ad. The team is sometimes tasked with producing an ad in an hour. This one took a few days. An Obama adviser admitted that the ad relied on considerable sound design to create something that looked and sounded different from other political ads on the air. “We set out to make something that would cut through the clutter,” he said.”
TV advertising works. It is a fine art, crafted by experienced agencies over decades, even if the ad for your local car-dealership might lead you to think otherwise. That seems to be an area where there is a definite
“race to the bottom”, or
“crass is best”.
Advertising is not about shouting the loudest. It is about influencing you to pick this shampoo, or that cereal box in the supermarket, without you even realising that you have done it. They are the ads we enjoy watching. Creative, sometimes funny, often keyed onto primitive drivers hard-coded into our sub-conscious. This is not Christine O’Donnell sitting there stating that “I am not a witch, I am you”. This is Christine O’Donnell appearing warm and human, and your mind, even as you consciously rebel against the notion, thinking that she is a nice, even cute person, with whom you feel some empathy.
If, in the end, you try to do the latter, yet end up making the Candidate the butt of the joke for every late-night comedian, and most of the bar room jokers in the country, then you might need a re-think:
When one adds the quantity of advertising, to the quality then you have a presentation that can swing voters to your view. There will be not shortage of quantity this go around. It is likely that the GOP side will actually buy the most time, yet they also need a message and that might be where the Democrats have the edge.
Bloggers are putting their talents to good use, and at Daily Kos we have some of the best. In a recent production, Crashing Vor used the “lipstick on a pitbull” Vice-Presidential candidate to make a point:
The video has amassed over 22000 views since it went to YouTube, and the message “Worse than Sarah Palin” is very well described.
In a general election that will be, more than ever before, most heavily influenced by the big money spending, the ads will be decisive. In a scenario where one side of the debate cannot hope to compete with the other, in terms of actual cash spent. Cash from un-attributable sources. Cash even from foreign investors (we have no way of knowing). Cash that is pouring in from under two hundred obscenely wealthy people will not be outspent by the Left. What we can do is what the videos here demonstrate so well.
We can outsmart them!