advertising

Lottery wants to pitch tickets in Spanish

bniolet — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:09:00 -0500

State lottery officials want to start advertising lottery tickets in Spanish.

There's a catch. The 2005 law that created the lottery states, "No advertising may intentionally target specific groups or economic classes."

So that leaves lottery officials trying to figure out how to market to Hispanics without targeting a specific group. Advertising has always been a sensitive issue for the lottery since critics don't want government encouraging people to gamble.

The lottery was created to raise money for education programs and Executive Director Tom Shaheen said there is a large untapped market. Out of 5,900 retailers, lottery officials figure that nearly 200 have a customer base in which at least half don't speak English.

So, Shaheen told lottery commission members Wednesday, he'd like permission to work up Spanish radio and print ads within the law.

"Thanks for throwing us into that briar patch," Commission chairman John McArthur joked.

The ads would not necessarily be translations of the English language ads already running. The lottery's marketing staff would ensure they are culturally relevant.

"I strongly feel it's an opportunity to for us," said Commission member Bridget-Anne Hampden. "It's recognizing the diversity of our state."

The commission told lottery staff to come back with a proposal on how they would propose to legally advertise in Spanish.

Obama spent $82k at WRAL since June

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:11:01 -0400

How are the ad wars going in North Carolina?

With the Legion of Dome interns gone, we haven't had much time lately to go check on the ad buys of the various campaigns.

But given that John McCain has recently started airing ads in North Carolina, we thought we'd see how much he's spending compared to Barack Obama.

At WRAL at least, the answer is nothing. The Raleigh TV station has no McCain file yet — not even an inquiry into ad rates.

That could mean he's relying on cable buys or isn't targeting the Triangle, or it could mean he's not advertising heavily. We won't be able to say until we visit a few more stations.

In the meantime, we can say that Obama is spending. According to his WRAL file, he's spent $82,481 on ads at that station since early June.

That's a decent amount, considering it's only mid-summer and North Carolina may or may not be a top tier swing state.

Besse's 'track' record

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:59:29 -0500

Dan Besse is running for lieutenant governor — figuratively and literally.

In an online campaign ad, the Winston-Salem city councilman is shown running through his neighborhood to the sounds of rhythmic clapping.

Text flashes over him, boasting of his track record in his two terms in office, his 12 years on the N.C. Environmental Management Commission, his ieight years on the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission and other positions.

At the same time, it also boasts of his track record, um, on the track: 21 marathons, 52 ultramarathons, a 4:55 minute mile and a 38-minute 10K.

Hat Tip: Trail Mix

Besse's 'running' ad

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:51:59 -0500

Edwards hustles on TV ad

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:39:56 -0500

DES MOINES—The John Edwards presidential campaign is hustling to get a new TV ad on the air in Iowa in the next few days that would take advantage of what most observers saw as a strong debate performance on Thursday.

Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, hammered home the theme during the Des Moines Register Democratic debate that corporate greed is hurting average working families, Rob Christensen reports.

The new TV is expected to reinforce those themes and may even include film footage from the TV debate—the last before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses.

Coal miner stars in Edwards ad

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:48:28 -0500

DES MOINES—James Lowe, a former coal miner from Wise County, Virginia, has long been a mainstay of Democratic candidate John Edwards' political stump speech.

Now Lowe's story is being featured in a new TV ad that is being aired in Iowa, where Edwards is locked in a close battle with Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, Rob Christensen reports.

Edwards uses Lowe, who he met in July during an anti-poverty tour, to illustrate how the health care system is broken. Lowe had a cleft palate which prevented him from speaking for the first 50 years of his life. His gained his voice after medical professionals voluntarily performed an operation.

"Fifty years without voice—in America," Edwards says in the ad. "This is wrong. It is immoral. When are we going to stop letting drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists run this country? America belong to us. James Lowe finally got his voice, now it's time for yours."

Edwards in Oregon

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 23 May 2007 15:27:34 -0400

John Edwards is going to advertise in Oregon.

Consultant Joe Trippi told the Washington Post that the campaign will be running anti-war ads in Eugene, home of the University of Oregon and a cross between Asheville and Chapel Hill.

Chris Cillizza has the story on the Post's politics blog, The Fix:

Our guess is that Edwards is making a targeted strike in an area that is likely to be quite receptive to his strong anti-war message. The ad buy also has the added benefit of keeping his opponents' guessing about his strategy -- always a plus in the three-dimensional chess match that is presidential primary politics.

Oregon's vote-by-mail primary is on May 20, 2008.

Edwards airs ads in Iowa

bkrueger — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:47:05 -0400

Iowa is regarded as a do-or-die election for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, who has spent so much time in the first caucus state that he may have earned honorary Iowan status.

To underscore that point, Edwards on Tuesday began running his first TV commercial in Iowa, Rob Christensen reports. The 30-second spot includes video and voices of people from Iowa asking Congress to pass the supplemental budget bill that President Bush vetoed.

The ad is similar to one that Edwards aired in Washington last week.

Edwards' ad: End the Iraq war

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 02 May 2007 14:11:53 -0400

John Edwards is raising money for a TV ad against the Iraq war.

In the first media buy of his 2008 presidential bid, the former North Carolina Democratic senator asks Congress to send President Bush another bill that includes a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.

Bush vetoed a spending bill last week that would have set a deadline for troops to leave.

In the ad, nine different "ordinary people" collectively say that "it's time to end the war":

Person 6: We want Congress to know
Person 7: We are with you.
Person 8: Don't back down to President Bush.
Person 1: Send him the same bill again and again.

The ad is available on Edwards' Web site here. He is also asking people to contribute money to help pay for the cost of airing the ad in the Washington, D.C., market.