29 July 2008

Obama’s National Ads in Olympics Seen as Smart Strategy

But presidential campaign advertisements could alienate some voters

Politicians sought out baseball great Babe Ruth and the publicity that accompanied him.

By Eric Green
Staff Writer

Washington -- Presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s reported plan to run national television advertisements during the August 8-24 Olympic Games might help his campaign but the strategy also carries risks, several sports business consultants tell America.gov.

Marc Ganis, who heads Chicago-based SportsCorp Ltd., said he thinks commercials on NBC’s Olympic broadcasts could be successful because they will be seen by a “broad cross-section” of Americans.

News about Obama’s advertising on NBC was first reported by Advertising Age magazine. According to information contained in NBC’s public file, the ad buy involved the purchase by the Obama campaign of air time during the network’s Olympic coverage.

Ganis said Obama has “a lot of money” to afford the ads -- Advertising Age said they will cost $5 million. One advantage, said Ganis, is that Obama is getting a “significant amount of mileage [publicity] just on the fact he’s making the ad buy.”

But the commercials themselves might not be as effective as the articles reporting the purchase of the advertising, Ganis said.

He said the ads could help Obama with the female vote because the Olympics generate a “disproportionate percentage of women watching the Games versus men.” When the Olympic gymnastics competition is shown, female viewing “escalates significantly,” said Ganis, whose firm consults on financing stadiums and arenas, and team acquisitions and relocations.

Ganis said presidential candidates rarely advertise nationally “because of the state-by-state nature of a presidential election.” Candidates consider national commercials a waste of money in states considered already secure or hopelessly out of reach, he said.

This means, Ganis said, Obama will spend a large sum to advertise even in states where he is heavily favored to beat presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain -- such as in New York and Obama’s home state of Illinois. Obama ran campaign ads in many U.S. states during February’s Super Bowl, America’s professional football championship.

Ganis said he does not expect McCain to advertise nationally during the Olympics because he has much less money in his campaign budget than Obama. Rather, McCain might choose the cheaper and “more traditional” targeted advertising in individual states with major television markets that “he feels are most important” to winning the election, Ganis said.

Because Obama is less well known than McCain, “it makes sense” for Obama to buy expensive Olympic advertising because he has “a half billion dollars to spend … [on] introducing himself to the country,” Ganis said.

President Bush greets members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team at the White House.

Given McCain’s more constrained finances, “it makes no economic sense” for him to buy national advertising, in part because most American voters already are familiar with the long-time Arizona senator.

POLITICIANS AND ATHLETES

Don Hinchey, vice president of communications for the Denver-based Bonham Group, said, “The Olympic platform works well for presidential candidates, especially Obama,” because the Olympics reach a huge audience, and the Olympic association enables Obama “to bask in the prestige and credibility of the Games. Plus, by extension, he can be a part of the feel-good stories with a patriotic spin.”

Hinchey said advertising during sports events helps “mainstream” a candidate by telling viewers “‘I'm one of you. I share your passions and interests. You can be comfortable with me.’ As such, sports ads are powerful vehicles for creating and conveying a candidate's image.” (See “U.S. Presidential Candidates Use Sports To Woo Voters.”)

Politicians’ linking themselves with famous athletes is “nothing new,” Hinchey said. He cited former New York governor and 1928 Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith, who golfed with baseball great Babe Ruth. U.S. presidents regularly host or make congratulatory calls to championship sports teams.

“The only novel thing, perhaps,” is that politicians are “starting to pay for this association” with sports figures through advertisements, said Hinchey, whose company works in sports and entertainment marketing.

RISKS IN OLYMPIC ADVERTISING

Kenneth Shropshire, director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania, said political candidates always seek “unique advertising deliveries” to voters.

Shropshire, a professor of sports business, said running political commercials during the Olympics initially could have a “powerful” effect, if they are sufficiently dramatic to capture the audience’s attention. But overdoing the commercials could alienate the audience by interrupting their favorite competitions.

Shropshire said political advertising during sports events is “certainly not something that’s been analyzed a lot” and “there’s no standard pattern” on how it should be presented.

The ads offer a chance to capture and present the campaign’s theme effectively, Shropshire said, provided the candidates “calibrate how many times” the commercials should run.

See “Americans Passionate, Patriotic About Olympic Games.”

The article on the Olympic ad buys can be read on Advertising Age’s Web site.