- Which advertising platforms will not accept political advertising?
- Amazon, LinkedIn and TikTok refuse the category outright, and no budget changes that. The other 14 channels in our matrix accept it, subject to each platform's own political advertiser verification, which the campaign completes in its own name.
- Do Google and YouTube treat political advertising differently in some states?
- Yes. Google and YouTube apply state-by-state rules to political advertising in Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Washington and Virginia. Separately, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, Connecticut and Oregon place heavy restrictions on location-based mobile targeting, which is the channel a district campaign leans on hardest.
- Can you target one legislative district rather than a whole state?
- Two ways, and they combine. An address list — a voter file is a list of buildings, and buildings are addressable. And a shape drawn on a map, which advertises to the phones inside it. A senate campaign in our records served over 800,000 mobile impressions against an address list for the district. Certain state restrictions apply to geo-fencing, address targeting and visit tracking.
- Do you work with candidates from both parties?
- Yes. We are nonpartisan and the work is identical either way — a district boundary does not know who drew it, and a voter file is a list of addresses whoever is mailing it. We do not write your message or take a position on it. We work with candidate campaigns only, not PACs, ballot measures or issue advocacy.
- Who is responsible for the “paid for by” disclaimer?
- Your campaign and its counsel. We are a media agency, not lawyers, and we will not advise you on what the disclaimer should say or where it goes. We will not run creative without the disclaimer you supply.
- How late can a campaign start and still be in market?
- Connected TV, Digital Out-of-Home, location-based mobile, streaming audio, display and video need approved creative and a map, and nothing else. Two need a set-up step first: Social Mirror is built from a post you have already published, so there has to be one worth running, and YouTube needs the campaign to already have a YouTube channel. None of that is a guaranteed launch date.