Connecting with cord cutters

Voting is one of the foundations of democracy. During elections in the United States, voters may support dozens of candidates and ballot initiatives that affect their daily lives, but many voters find it difficult to stay informed about all the issues.

BASK Digital Media focuses on advertising campaigns, websites, social media, and other forms of digital marketing for candidates and political groups. By raising awareness of issues and providing persuasive arguments, the company can help voters make decisions and advocate for its clients’ causes.

During the 2016 election, BASK worked closely with one client to help sway opinions about a major ballot initiative in a large state. Video advertisements are one of the most effective ways of reaching audiences, but in recent years, more people are cutting cords and consuming content over the Internet instead of traditional broadcast channels.

“Polling showed that about 15% of persuadable voters only consumed television content over the Internet, including television network websites and paid streaming sites,” says Amanda Bloom, Managing Director and Director of Advertising at BASK Digital Media. “Another 8% didn’t watch any type of television programming at all.”

With 23% of undecided voters unreachable through traditional television ads, BASK developed a comprehensive campaign strategy that would supplement a broadcast and cable television push with ads on Internet television. To win, the campaign had to effectively reach and persuade those voters.

“It’s the first time we had polling numbers to tell us what percentage of our target universe was unreachable by TV advertising. We saw that cord cutters made up a quarter of our target audience, so it was critical to reach them,” says Bloom. “Adobe Advertising Cloud helped us reach voters in the fragmented digital TV ecosystem. At the start of our efforts, only 27% of targeted voters knew about the ballot initiative—upon election day, 79% of the digital TV audience polled was aware of the initiative, which was close to the traditional TV audience that polled at 86% awareness.”

End-to-end, cross-channel platform

Most video advertising platforms focus on specific channels. Adobe Advertising Cloud, part of Adobe Experience Cloud, is the first independent platform to offer true end-to-end video ad management for all channels, from broadcast television to digital channels. BASK used Advertising Cloud to plan strategies and bid on ads for Internet content, including video on demand and streaming services, across Connected TVs and devices, mobile apps, desktop websites, and other screens.

Daily online and telephone polls provided metrics to measure campaign reach and impact. By giving BASK greater visibility into campaign performance, the company could use Adobe Advertising Cloud to optimize ad spend for greater returns.

“Adobe Advertising Cloud was part of a comprehensive advertising strategy that involved reaching out directly to channels and streaming providers,” says Bloom.

Improving results by 33 points

The results of the campaign strategy were far beyond BASK’s expectations. In addition to increasing campaign awareness by 192%, overall support for the campaign’s position rose dramatically. Before implementing the digital television strategy, backing for the campaign position from cord cutters trailed by -29 points. By the end of the campaign, positions had switched and the campaign position was winning cord cutters by +4 points.

“It was our first time running a very concerted digital TV strategy, so we didn’t know what to expect,” says Bloom. “The results far exceeded our expectations, improving both awareness and vote significantly. This was especially impressive because the wording of the ballot initiative was not favorable to our position, and we knew that we would have to overcome that challenge. There’s no way that we could have moved the Internet-only numbers to such an extent without our digital strategy supported by Adobe Advertising Cloud.”

As the way that people consume media continues to change, BASK needs tools that will help it identify and reach audiences wherever they are. “Adobe Advertising Cloud helped us to deliver our messaging to cord cutters,” says Bloom. “We reached voters that were unreachable through traditional TV advertising, significantly increasing awareness of the initiative and ultimately persuading them before they went to the polls.”

Recommended for you

https://main--bacom--adobecom.hlx.page/fragments/customer-success-stories/cards/11afd9ed2dfdaa117de1c022818eafba

See all customer stories

https://main--bacom--adobecom.hlx.page/fragments/customer-success-stories/contact-footer