You can watch the ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ro5iGShcV4

Several things jump out to me. First, this is a one minute ad. Many consultants eschew the one minute ad, as it takes more money to get the number of points behind it you need for penetration, and in our increasingly-attention-deficit world, some believe that even a minute is too much for voters to handle.

Counterintuitive to this line of thought, I think the one minute can be an effective game changer. The length lets the ad “breathe” so it does not appear to be crammed with information, and you don’t need The Micro Machine Man announcer running through a list of your life’s accomplishments to “get it all in.”

This ad also exemplifies a classic political play – it hangs a lantern on this guy’s problem. He is a new face, and let’s face it, the guy is a nerd. Who would admit to reading Fortune when they were eight? How many people finish college, a masters and law school in their lifetimes, let alone by the time they are 23? He is a classic over achiever, and that is the type of go-getter voters might want in these desperate economic times.

The ad sets up the reveal of him being “One Tough Nerd” very well with scenes of economic blight, and lays the blame at the type of people he is running against to win his party’s primaries: disgraced and discredited career politicians — and as polling across the country is showing, incumbents everywhere need to beware the wrath of dissatisfied voters on all ends of the spectrum.

The other big deal in this ad is the candidate highlights his bonafides at job creation. As I have said a million times recently to candidates and consultants alike: “If you are not talking about jobs, why are you talking?” This is especially true in a state like Michigan, which is fast becoming the number one example of our country’s job loss and infrastructure problems.

One quibble I have with this ad is his 10 point plan and the fact that “No politician can understand it.” He may be over-exerting his smart guy persona and coming off as a know it all — something voters decidedly do not want. He tempers that by not reeling off each of the ten points, and instead is driving traffic to his website by asking voters to read it for themselves. It will be interesting to see his follow up to these ads and if he enumerates all or some of his plan in a series of ads that have a cohesive narrative.

Last, he sets up voters for the inevitable let down should he become Governor by proclaiming “we just can’t fix it.” This is obviously going to be a tough job, and to portray it as anything less would be intellectually dishonest, and would not serve him well should he win. I think it is an interesting gambit that most would overlook.

I have seen no numbers, or focus group dial testing from this ad, so we don’t know how it worked in terms of creating space for him in the primary. I also have no affiliation with this campaign, or any campaign, in the state of Michigan. Just thought it would be interesting, and look for us to make some of our friends and a lot of people we don’t know angry by critiquing great, good, OK and terrible ads throughout the country while the parties in all 50 states decide whom their standard bearers will be in the November 2010 midterms.

David Mowery

Along with other finance reporting numbers, Doc’s Political Parlor gave good play to our client “Mr. Billy” ’s hard work to out raise much of the sitting Senate Caucus.

The only two senators to outraise our client, Rep. Billy Beasley (D-Clayton) are the powerful chairmen of the Rules Committee and the Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee.

This is a strong testament to Rep. Beasley’s reputation, hard work, and dedication to becoming the next Senator from Senate District 28. After yesterday’s revelation that he was far outpacing all of his potential opponents for the open seat, the fact that Rep. Beasley has done better than 33 sitting state senators undoubtedly propels him to frontrunner status, and makes him the “smart money” choice to be the next senator!

The end of the year fundraising deadline is a critical measure of a candidates’ support and dedication to the race. Mr. Beasley’s dedication is unsurpassed – he is well known to the people of Clayton and Clio as a their gentleman pharmacist – he has served in the legislature since 1998 and is well respected by his constituents and his peers for his abilities to get the job done, and to listen to the people he represents.

His support is both deep and wide. As we say in Alabama, “Billy is strong as new rope in Barbour and Bullock Counties.” We are proud of our work on his behalf, and proud to be able to represent him as he seeks higher office.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/campaign/issues/1988_retro.html

It’s also funny that some of the players are still around, but on the other side of the argument.

Always great to see a mention of Dale Bumpers, who may have the best-titled autobiography of all time, let alone the Senate: Best Lawyer in a One Lawyer Town

Many people hear about Facebook, decide they want an account, sign up, link to a few friends, and then forget about their account.  Most are wary about privacy concerns, or their posts or pictures being seen as “unprofessional.”

Professionalism is a legitimate concern in any profession. It is why in the political field we tend to dress nice, stay clean cut, and generally comport ourselves like mid-level employees of a bank or Wall Street Concern during work hours.

That same ethos can be applied to your personal or professional Facebook page. If you are smart enough to avoid the pratfalls of unprofessional behavior in the workplace, or in public, you are smart enough to avoid the pratfalls of inappropriate posts or pictures on Facebook.

And if you are not using Facebook to drive a daily message you are missing a chance to speak to a captive audience of people who thought well enough of you or your business to follow what you are doing or thinking.

It’s not about specific status updates, or driving a message, it is about creating the type of informational updates that make people interested in what you are doing, and creating a positive aura, or brand ID, which in turn makes people curious about what you are doing.

I use my personal page to update friends and family in far flung locales about what I am up to – whether it is an update on the baby, or a recipe or drink that I am currently trying – the people who know me well enough to follow along are curious about these things.

Conversely, for the Mowery Consulting Group, LLC Fan Page, I try to link to stories that are interesting to people who monitor our business machinations or the general zeitgeist of national and Alabama politics.  And whether people agree or disagree, they are usually curious.

I recently had a friend tell me: “I’m so over Facebook – I’m going to use Twitter now.” That’s a nice sentiment, but if you don’t link your Twitter feed to your Facebook status updates, you’re basically saying,“I’m happy hosting a show on Channel 8 Pittsburgh. I don’t want to Host The Today Show, thanks but no thanks Matt Lauer. “

You may hate Budweiser, you may never drink a Budweiser again in your entire life – but since Budweiser sells more product than every other beer in the American market place COMBINED, and that includes Bud Light, you might want to follow what it does, its commercials and its best practices. Other companies quake in their boots and then jump on the market space available when Budweiser introduces niche products like American Ale and Bud Light Golden Wheat – because they know that is where the action is.

So what is the upshot of this to you? There is a fine line between to much info, boring status updates, or posting overbearing platitudes and being an information-rich source that people want to follow.

I have had several friends who rarely post approach me in public and tell me that they may not post a lot, but they sure are interested in what I am up to. Some of them I am tangentially associated with professionally, be they judges or legislators, who I have forged a better bond with and a better professional relationship with through our association on Facebook.

And really, if you are a businessman – that is what it is all about – relationship building that leads to more business and a mutually beneficial relationship.

Dave

P.S. here is an article about how Scott Brown used Social Media to harness the anger in the electorate, and about how Martha Coakley went through the motions. Kicker Quote Highlighted/Italicized by Me

The Brown web

A Brown web consultant explains what his campaign did right on the web, including:

They respected the “web guy” and didn’t stick him in the basement.

From the beginning Rob Willington, the campaign’s new media director, was put in a position of leadership. He wasn’t relegated to a stuffy office in the corner of the campaign headquarters. Instead, he was consulted on key campaign decisions and allowed to lead campaign initiatives online.

They understood that social media is called SOCIAL media for a reason.

While the campaign of Attorney General Martha Coakley used Twitter (and actually posted more Tweets), they were far less likely to be interactive. Instead, Twitter was used to promote press releases and media hits. Brown, on the other hand, used replies and other tools to actually engage voters online. It led to far more Twitter followers and far more voters who felt they were being engaged in conversation vs. being talked at. The campaign’s Twitter following was also key to spreading the buzz of the campaign nationally.

Content is King, and they created a lot of it.

In order to keep people engaged, the Brown campaign created regular content- specifically making good use of online video. Over 59 videos were used to supplement the messaging of the campaign. They were often issued quickly after an event or an embarrassing comment by Coakley, including one where AG Coakley said that the extent of her foreign policy experience was that “she had a sister who lives overseas.”

They also had a candidate who caught fire, which always helps.

My early prediction on the that mayors race is that Patrick Cooper is in real trouble. Frontrunners should avoid getting in a runoff at all cost because your closest opponent becomes a legitimate contender and will be able to raise money.

Cooper might pull off a win but his likelihood of becoming the next Mayor of B’ham would be much better if he had done these things differently:

a) Cooper could have won without a runoff if he did a better job at persuading voters outside of his comfort zone to grow the base of support he had already solidified during his previous run against former Mayor Larry Langford.

b)  Cooper should not have let  William Bell out fundraise him in the runoff!  Bell, who only raised $15,000 during the general election has raised $300,000 for the runoff which is around $25,000 more than Cooper. The reason this is trouble for Cooper is because he has had plenty of money and able to buy a lot of TV time ahead of the last two mayoral elections and has only able to persuade 1/3 of voters in either race. Bell on the other hand, managed to persuade 1/6 of runoff voters while only spending 15K. With 300K Bell has been able to buy serious TV time and make his appeal to a wide audience of voters for the first time in this election cycle.

You can expect to see exponential growth in Bell’s share of the votes cast today. Will it be enough to win?

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David Mowery announced last month that he was opening Mowery Consulting Group, LLC, in Montgomery, AL, a full-service general campaign firm. Mowery managed now-Rep. Bobby Bright’s (D-AL) ‘08 campaign. In addition to leading the Bright camp, Mowery also ran Todd Strange’s (D) subsequent bid to replace Bright as mayor of Montgomery. But today, he is our Consultant Candid.

What was your first job?
In life — I was a busboy at an Italian Restaurant when I was 15. In politics — Deputy Finance Director for Governor Don Siegelman’s re-election campaign (2001).

What is your proudest moment professionally?
Every win is sweet, and every defeat is bitter, so to pick one win over the other is obviously very hard. I have had the honor to work with so many amazing people that I am going to be selfish and say that the outpouring of support and the coverage of the recent company launch has been a great affirmation of the work I have done for all of those candidates.

If you could be in any other line of work, what would it be?
Something where people thought my opinion mattered, like a columnist, radio show or TV host.

Of what campaign (past, present or future) would you most like to be a part?
(Past) McCain 2000, but my twin obsessions of LBJ and Nixon make the run up to 1968 one of the more fascinating times in recent American political history.

What individual who does your kind of work for the other party do you respect the most, and why?
Locally, I have to say that my friends Dan Morris (former Reagan White House operative) and Phillip Bryan, AL GOP spokesman, are the types of guys who know that you can leave it all out there on the field and still break bread or have a beer together. They come at their beliefs with true conviction, but do not begrudge me mine.

Negative campaigning — good or bad?
Necessary. I will say that over the past few campaigns, though, I have become a believer in “making your case.” The voters need to know that you are the right person for the job.
What one event in a candidate’s past would pose the biggest problem in a campaign?
I think arrests are always bad. I worked a campaign in 2002 (Walker for Congress GA-12) where the other side made an ad of our campaign headshot morphing into a mugshot. The campaign was over that day.

What is your favorite restaurant to meet clients?
(tie) Nancy Patterson’s and Jubilee Seafood in Montgomery.

What is the first section of the newspaper you read?
I read two clips services in state, and scan the front pages of the Washington Post, New York Times and Atlanta Journal Constitution.

If you could only watch one TV news show, what would it be?
Hardball. (One year ago the answer would have been Meet the Press)

A question from last week’s Candid participant, Republican State Leadership Cmte Pres. Scott Ward: What is your favorite social media application and who uses it the best?
Facebook. I think people are still trying to learn the best application of it, but it is a very quick and easy way to keep people informed. Feel free to add me.

Please pose a question for the next interviewee.
Will television ever be replaced as the number-one campaign communication tool? If so, by what?