Google's Poised For Politics
After the special U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts last month, one company in particular won a share of the credit for Republican Scott Brown's victory.
"And the winner is...Google," declared TechPresident. The Wall Street Journal's technology blog honed in on the Brown campaign's "groundbreaking" use of Google tools. And the digital marketing news site ClickZ highlighted how Brown's team harnessed a range of Google offerings in its upset win in the race for the seat of the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy.
But the ubiquity of this meme is hardly an accident. Google representatives reached out to the media to highlight how their company figured into the win. This post-election media push accompanies recent measures to raise awareness about the utility of Google platforms specifically for one kind of client: political candidates. The company's elections and issue advocacy group, which formed in time for the 2008 cycle, launched a weekly blog series on digital strategy last week, is adding staff in time for this year's midterm elections, and conducts regular instructional sessions with campaigns to show how to use Google platforms. Google's offerings include search advertising, the YouTube video site, mobile outreach, and a display network that allows candidates to show their ads on sites across the Web.
But the company's efforts to attract political clients raises a question: Why would a giant like Google, whose business developments are at such a scale that they impact international relations, care about increasing its share of the meager dollars devoted to digital strategy in political campaigns?
Online campaigning, after all, remains a tiny portion of campaign expenditures. "It's still not close to what is spent on television, on radio, and direct mail," said Peter Greenberger, head of Google's elections and issue advocacy team. Online outreach comprised just 4 percent of campaign budgets in 2008, according to Karen Jagoda, president of the E-Voter Institute, which advocates for candidates to increase their online outreach.
Despite the pittance that goes to online campaigning, Google has other incentives for hiring people like Greenberger, a political veteran who has worked on Democratic presidential and Senate campaigns. "Politics gives [Google] a chance to show off what their platform can do," Josh Koster, an online strategist and partner at the new media firm Chong and Koster, said.
Political campaigns function as free advertising for Google's platforms, providing examples for corporate clients on the effectiveness of online spending. "Politics gets an outsized amount of attention not only from reporters but from readers, who follow it very closely," Greenberger said. "If we can show a politician or a candidate is using a Google platform very effectively, a large corporate brand or a small business might give it a shot as well."
Jagoda, who urges midterm campaigns to spend at least 10 percent of their budgets online, said she thinks Google's publicity efforts can go a long way in validating online campaigning. Consultants "still need a lot of help understanding this new environment," Jagoda said. Google's team is "making it easier for campaigns to understand what they can buy... [and] what they can do for little or no charge."
What's more, the percentage of campaign budgets devoted to the Internet is growing. While only 1 percent of campaign budgets in 2004 were devoted to the Internet, Brown spent about 10 percent of his campaign treasury on such outreach. With millions of dollars spent on elections each cycle, owning platforms for online politicking is becoming ever-more lucrative. "It's a huge opportunity," Greenberger said.
Is Google poised to take home the lion's share? It is not the only one offering attractive online platforms. Some campaigns "might feel more comfortable with a firm that specializes in some component like mobile or Web video," Jagoda said. "Many new solutions are popping up in the marketplace to help candidates and advocates use online effectively."
Google's ad network competitors include Yahoo, AOL and ValueClick. Other "networks reach at least 75 percent of the Internet visitors with AOL and Yahoo slightly edging out Google," she said, pointing to comScore data from December of last year. "Other competition for local ad dollars will be specific sites that appeal to the local population and which may not be part of these ad networks."
Still, Jagoda said she believes "Google tools will clearly be part of any strategic plan."
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus