Steve Murphy, who heads up Bill Richardson's media team, knows what they're up against in the 2008 presidential campaign. "There are three 800-pound gorillas in the room," Murphy says of the top-tier candidates in the Democratic field.
Richardson, of course, is not currently in that weight class, but he's trying to sneak in, most recently on the strength of some wily television ads produced by Murphy's firm. The spots have brought Richardson more attention in the last week than he's had in all the months since he entered the race.
The ads are running in Iowa and, Murphy says, are aimed at introducing the candidate in the early-voting states. "We wanted to get there first," says Murphy. "We wanted to get to the voters before the structure of the race completely settled in. The media has said that it is a two-person race or three-person race." The ads are running in Iowa and, Murphy says, are aimed at introducing the candidate in the early-voting states. "We wanted to get there first," says Murphy. "We wanted to get to the voters before the structure of the race completely settled in. The media has said that it is a two-person race or three-person race."
He adds: "But you have a candidate like Richardson who, when people hear what he has done, gets tremendous response from voters. It just made sense to take our candidate to the voters in the most pristine conditions possible."
The media fog is already pretty thick, but his point is well-taken. Edwards is the only other candidate advertising in Iowa. The ads are good -- smart, funny, wholly untraditional, and all over the Web. Murphy, who ran both of Dick Gephardt's presidential campaigns (including the 1988 win in Iowa), is counting on the fact that the race will look completely different by next January than it does today. Iowa, in particular, tends to do that. "The one thing that I know is that Iowa has a history of breaking late," Murphy told me. "There is going to be some fundamental change in the structure of the race between now and then and we want to lay the groundwork for when that happens."
The Richardson ad buy is a small bet on what Murphy hopes are big changes down the road, but the remarkable half-life they have already developed on the web is testament to big changes that have already taken place -- changes that will dramatically re-shape the way presidential campaigns are waged now and in the future.
The basic premise of the ads is that Richardson is a preposterously well-credentialed candidate for the job of president, and people ought to know that. So in a mock job interview that reminds some of us of all the terrible job interviews we've had, Richardson makes his case -- and it's funny. At $110,000, the ads could not have been intended to have an impact in the traditional way. But they have generated a buzz in the mainstream political media, and Democratic operatives have been e-mailing the ads to each other for more than a week, marveling at how well done they are.
The ads also help the Richardson campaign slowly accumulate YouTube views, which cost the campaign nothing, and help create a presence on the site that does not go away. This is exposure that money can't buy, which is just fine with the Richardson camp, since they don't have the kind of money the 800-pound gorillas do. But at some point this is going to be the model: The big, high-priced television ad buys are going to look as ridiculous as they really are, and people are going to look for cheaper, more effective ways of reaching voters. Only $7 million was spent on political web-banner advertising in the last presidential cycle. This time around, each of the top candidates on both sides could spend twice as much.
The Richardson ads have already had their effect: They signaled to those who needed to know that his campaign was not dead. And, Murphy concedes, they were a way to communicate with some other important players. "The first goal is to present the candidate in the early states, but it also has had an effect in terms of making an impression on the opinion elite and with the contributors," Murphy says, "That's where you have a big advantage with the internet."
Everyone is sure that the Web will change political advocacy, just as it has political fundraising, but no one knows how. But Murphy is betting big on it. Murphy Putnam Media, LLC recently hired Phil "I-did-it-and-I-am-proud-of-it" de Vellis, who made the now infamous Hillary-bashing "Vote Different" ad that generated the first big advertising buzz of the campaign a few months ago.
"We wanted internet expertise," Murphy said, "and as soon as I saw that ad, I said to my partner, 'This guy is creative, let's hire him.'" Now they have, and I have a clear sense that they are planning a few gorilla-hunting excursions sometime in the future.
