How Political Advertising Affects Your Media Buy
Political advertising is everywhere and it can wreak havoc on a media buy, but it primarily causes trouble with broadcast television buys. Whether placed by a candidate directly or a super PAC representing a specific candidate, there are a lot more people vying for the same air time as those who advertise year round. Therefore spots are pushed around and many times are pre-empted—that is, they are replaced if another advertiser pays full rates for the same time slot. Finding open inventory to replace these missed spots is difficult during political seasons because political advertisers have far more dollars to buy available inventory than most advertisers. This drives the spot cost higher and higher, more than what it is really worth.
To avoid the high rates, Amperage Marketing & Fundraising leverages long-time media relationships and strategically distributes advertising buys across different advertising mediums that are less affected by political advertising during the political windows. This provides the results our clients want at an effective cost per point during a time when ad clutter is at its max.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.