Ad Critic: Giving Obama A Big ‘O’ Hug

Check out the pair on Gordon Smith.  His campaign’s new spot directly links him to Barack Obama in what is easily the most ballsy ad by a Senate incumbent so far this cycle.  The ad fits neatly into the excellent air campaign Smith has been running and what’s likely to be a wider trend among blue state Republicans of associating themselves with Obama or his message.  Colorado GOP Senate nominee Bob Schaffer also joined in on the fun this week by parroting Obama’s visuals and logo. 

What makes this ad so effective is that it fits seamlessly into Smith’s earlier spots and the image he has cultivated since he was first elected to the Senate.  Every single positive ad Smith has run this cycle has the exact same message: Gordon Smith is a bipartisan moderate.  Here are a couple of his earlier spots from the last few months. You can find the rest of his ads here.

All of these ads give Democrats and independents permission vote for Smith.  He’s repeating the “bipartisan moderate” message over and over again and that kind of repetition sticks. 

I’m guessing that Smith is just the beginning of this trend.  Take a look at Bob Schaffer’s first spot in the Colorado Senate race: 

Notice anything besides the weird animated visuals and how awkward he looks walking in front of the green screen?  At second 20-23 there’s a blatant rip off of Obama’s logo and motto.    

Smith Ad 1: 

The female voice over, matter-of-fact script, calming music and relatively simple visuals all make this ad’s tone feel moderate.  At the same time, the blue background and picture of Smith that frames much of the ad mimic the Obama campaign’s visuals.  That said, this ad is all about the Obama picture in the first 10 seconds, everything else is just elaboration.   

The issue is a very small part of the ad’s appeal, but energy independence is a strong choice.  It’s an important issue in its own right and it’s one that the Democrats see as a major line of attack against him.  By tying his position to Obama, he’s inoculating himself against their attacks. 

Smith also delivers a very strong read at the end of the ad.  He seems to be consistently good on camera which is discussed more below.   

Real Voter Takeaway (independents and soft D’s anyway): Gordon Smith is a bipartisan moderate who worked with Obama to do what’s right. 

Smith Ad 2: 

This is a fairly standard “Democrats for…” endorsement spot and is paired with this ad.  There are three main components in this spot:  The bipartisan/moderate message sent by being endorsed by two Democrats; the fact that both endorsers are women and one is African American; and the throw “George Bush and the War” under the bus line. 

If this ad had run a few years ago, it would have been as striking as the Obama ad, but we’ve gotten used to Republican Bush bashing.  Still, this is the most extreme example of it I’ve seen in a Republican tv spot. 

The camera work is very spartan which gives the spot a spot a folksy feel that’s accentuated by the background and music.  The endorsers are presented as nice ladies who could be sitting in your living room with you.  Overall, this is a very effective ad.  It pushes the same “bipartisan moderate” message as his other spots and has a similar calming tone as the rest of his ads. 

Real Voter Takeaway: “Nice Democratic ladies are supporting Gordon Smith because he’s not a George Bush clone.” 

Smith Ad 3:

This was Smith’s opening spot and is worth highlighting because it shows he’s been pushing the same “bipartisan moderate” message since the beginning of his ad campaign.  It’s a pretty standard script and extremely plain camera work but a strategically smart way to kick off his race.

On the technical side, this ad is literally as plain as it gets.  There’s just one shot the entire 30 seconds and that shot didn’t even have the slight push that’s usually put on straight to the camera setups.  Generally, I’m a big advocate of not making ads too glossy, but when you’ve got no visual variation, viewers brains just tune out.

Smith himself carries this ad.  He’s calming, reasonable, attractive and convincing – his demeanor embodies his message.  It’s also strategically sound to start out the race reintroducing voters to their Senator personally and this ad accomplishes that goal.

Real Voter Takeaway: “Gordon Smith seems like a nice, moderate guy who wants to help Oregon.”

Schaffer Ad 1:  

This ad is an example of a lazy ad firm trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.  The green screen format highlights Schaffer’s awkwardness… they may as well have pulled his pants up to his waist and slapped a pocket protector on his shirt.   

A few people can pull off a green screen (for a good example, look at Michael Steele’s ads from last cycle) but Schaffer obviously can’t.  His ad firm should have know this or at the least figured it out after taking a look at the footage, which they do before the campaign commits to paying for the animation.  It’s also an expensive, unnecessary way to film a spot, although the ad firm does get to charge the campaign a bundle for doing tons of expensive visuals (if they own a production house, which many of the larger GOP firms do).

Strategically, the ad’s message choice is questionable.  The main objective seems to be to hammer home that he’s from Colorado (“Colorado is my life” etc) and portray him as a regular guy.  The regular guy schick is fine and a lot of campaigns have used it effectively, but is “I’m actually from here!” really the most effective message to kick off your race with?

The script itself is decent, but very plain vanilla.  It could have been spiced up quite a bit if it were paired with better visuals, but this script could have easily been used in any state legislative race anywhere.  A major U.S. Senate candidate deserves more creativity. 

The only thing that redeems this ad even a little bit is the fact that Schaffer is doing the read himself.  That builds connection with voters that a voiceover can’t.  He does come across as fairly sincere (which happens to be a trait that people can associate with awkwardness) but the read comes across as over-rehearsed and devoid of strength and leadership.

There are a lot of other things wrong with this ad, but I’ll save an essay on the “show it!” rule and evocative visuals for another day.

Real Voter Takeaway: “Bob Schaffer seems like a nice but geeky guy who really wants me to know he’s from Colorado.”

(Note: I didn’t look up which firm did this ad and this review is unbiased.  I just hate this spot.)