Jess Ellis, Senior Specialist, Client Partnerships, Politics at VDX.tv, illuminates the CTV and OLV landscape for political and advocacy advertising. With the increasing shift to streaming and the use of apps to download and watch videos, targeted advertising opportunities are diverse and effective for reaching specific segments of voters. The length of the ads is also shrinking as voter attention spans shorten, requiring more imaginative use of words and images.

We talk about:

• Applying advertising strategies used in the commercial sector to political outreach and persuasion
• Push for CTV pre-reservations
• Premium CTV inventory and finding those who pay to avoid streaming ads
• The under-appreciated value of non-premium CTV inventory
• Audiences watching OLV and linear TV 

#VDXtv #CTV #OLV #PoliticalAdvertising #TargetingVoters #FASTapps #VideoAdvertising

VDX.tv

Anne-Christine, investigative journalist and human rights activist Stop the Coup 2025, joins Deepak Puri, CEO of The Democracy Labs, to address the anti-abortion war and threat to women's health from Project 2025, a 900-page Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise from the Heritage Foundation.  With references to the Comstock Act of 1843 and other state laws, this group is organizing campaigns that promote Christian nationalist values, intending to turn this country into a theocracy.

Deepak and Anne-Christine talk about:

• How Christian Nationalists are using non-profits with tax-exempt status to organize hate campaigns and engage in political activities
• Strategy behind citing old laws with deliberate incorrect interpretations
• Criminalization of "deviant behavior"
• Calling on men to get involved with actions about reproductive choice
• Getting information into the hands of people who can amplify the message of the fight against Project 2025

#StoptheCoup2025 @TheDemLabs #HumanRights #WomensRights #ReproductiveRights #Project2025 #Democracy

StoptheCoup2025.org 

TheDemLabs.org

Bryan Miller, President of Neptune Ops, discusses how browser companies are changing their policies regarding the use of cookies to locate specific individuals and the need for new campaign strategies to find and persuade voters online. In the post-cookie world, political consultants must consider new identifiers based on other data, surgical contextual targeting, and geo-fencing.

We talk about:

• What replaces cookies to identify and target specific voters or groups
• Voting propensity, voter turnout, and when people decide how they are going to vote
• Finding persuadable voters
• How voters are consuming media
• Use of humor in political and advocacy ads
• Reaching diverse and younger voters
• Election Month not Election Day

#NeptuneOps #TargetingVoters #PostCookies #PoliticalAdvertising

NeptuneOps.com

Patrice O'Neil, Founder of Not In Out Town, joins Deepak Puri, CEO of The Democracy Labs, to discuss gathering communities together to support conversations that drive understanding about fighting hate and racism. Patrice reports that screening their film Repairing the World in local gatherings has become a catalyst for people to share their stories about being harmed by hate and actions that can taken to fight racist attacks. NIOT has become a story center for communities who want to stand up together and learn from each other.

Deepak and Patrice talk about:

• Inspiring people to take on hate and fight white supremacy
• Documenting incidents of hate and racism
• Engaging institutions that can take action
• Normalizing the fight against hate speech

#NIOT #NotInOurTown @TheDemLabs #HateSpeech #Racism #RepairtheWorldFilm   

niot.org

RepairtheWorldFilm.org

TheDemLabs.org

Melanie Lavelle, Founder of Benefit Kitchen, joins Deepak Puri, CEO of The Democracy Labs, to discuss the impact of welfare reform and the creation of an app and database to empower people to understand what benefits are available.  Benefit Kitchen is focused on working with people to overcome obstacles and gain insight into the eligibility rules for federal, state, and local benefits. Melanie has discovered that many rules and hard-to-find information are designed to keep people from enrolling and discourage participation in programs.  The more these agencies hide, the more determined Melanie is to dig out the information and help people get necessary services and resources.

Deepak and Melanie talk about:

• How people find out about benefit programs and who is qualified to participate
• Creating an app that helps people decide which benefits to pursue and how one benefit might impact another
• Who is most likely not to get benefits
• Why a mobile-first solution for this target audience is essential

#BenefitKitchen @TheDemLabs #WelfareReform #GovernmentBenefits #FederalBenefits #StateBenefits #FoodStamps #SDOH #Seniors #MobileFirst 

BenefitKitchen.com

TheDemLabs.org

Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, Founders of Survivors Empowered, join Deepak Puri, CEO of The Democracy Labs, to discuss their reaction and activism as a result of the murder of their daughter Jessi, killed in the Aurora Colorado theatre 2012 mass shooting.  Their organization is focused on regulating companies that sell ammunition and repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

Deepak, Sandy and Lonnie talk about:

• Who is selling ammunition and what information is being collected
• Who is building arsenals of ammunition, and the role of online sellers
• Addressing the trauma of survivors and victims of gun violence
• National actions being taken to repeal the PLCA act that provides immunity to gun sellers 

#SurvivorsEmpowered @TheDemLabs #MassShootings #Ammunition #GunViolence #NRA #Activism #AssaultWeapons #RepealPLCA

SurvivorsEmpowered.org

TheDemLabs.org

Joe Fuld, Founder of The Campaign Workshop, joins Deepak Puri, CEO of The Democracy Labs, to consider how the role of political and advocacy campaign managers has changed over the last 20 years. The constants are the ongoing challenges for a campaign to refine the message, have the candidate or advocate's voice heard by the target audience, and find the pressure points to make the most short-term and long-term impact. Joe also emphasizes the need to keep innovating to build robust campaign strategies. 

Deepak and Joe talk about:

• Driving civic engagement
• Power mapping
• Need for training to maximize the impact of advocates and candidates
• Working with underfunded causes to maximize resources

#TheCampaignWorkshop @TheDemLabs #Organizing #Advocacy #Fundraising #CivicEngagement #PoliticalCampaigns 

The Campaign Workshop

TheDemLabs.org

Rhiannon Ruff, Co-Founder of the digital agency Lumino, is a Wikipedia expert and author of the book Wikipedia & Crisis Comms. Increasingly, for voters and the media, Wikipedia is the go-to source for campaign and candidate information, and the accuracy of the information is critical for the site's moderators. While there are ways to get content edited, one presidential candidate's approach is a lesson in what not to do.

We talk about:

• Why campaigns should care about Wikipedia
• What sources are used to create and update Wikipedia pages
• How content is moderated on Wikipedia
• Tips on how to get Wikipedia pages changed
• Advice for campaigns about creating a Wikipedia strategy and who should take the lead

#LuminoDigital #Wikipedia #PoliticalCampaigns 

LuminoDigital.com

Andra Watkins, The New York Times best-selling author and speaker, joins Deepak Puri, CEO of The Democracy Labs, to discuss the threat of Christian Nationalists to the future of our democracy. Indoctrinated as a child in Christian Nationalism, Andra understands the language of the calls to action in Project 2025 and warns about the potential impact on families and communities in her Substack: How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life. 

Deepak and Andra talk about:

• How Christian Nationalists are different from other Christians 
• The true meaning of the words Christian Nationalists use when describing God's Law and Man's Law 
• What Christian Nationalists mean by pornography
• The need to drill down into the details of the 900-page Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project and not be distracted by the length
• The cost of fighting back against Christian Nationalists

#AndraWatkins #HowProject2025WillRuinYOURLife @TheDemLabs #Project2025 #ChristianNationalists #ChristianNationalism 

How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life

TheDemLabs.org

Deepak Puri, CEO of The Democracy Labs, shares his reaction and insights from participating in the recent commemoration of Bloody Sunday and his walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. As an activist, Deepak appreciates the importance of learning from history and the need to continue the fight for civil rights.

We talk about:

• What motivated people to attend the 59th gathering to remember the beatings of the civil rights marchers and pass on lessons to the next generation
• Voter suppression
• Overcoming voter apathy
• Why it is essential to visit the actual places where history is made
• The threat of Project 2025 to democracy

@TheDemLabs #EdmundPettusBridge #CivilRights #Activism #HowProject2025WillRuinYourLife #VoterSuppression #VoterApathy #VoterRegistration #Protests #CivicEngagement

TheDemLabs.org

Jim Margolis, Partner at GMMB, was a Senior Advisor to Barack Obama in both of his campaigns for the White House. Jim is one of the stars of the recent documentary The Bigger Hammer: Race for the White House A Look at the 2008 Obama-McCain Race for President. Taking on the challenge of introducing Barack Obama meant having a strategic plan to define a different kind of leader, telling his unique, authentic candidate story, and finding common interests with all voters. It was also the first presidential campaign to use the new social media tools to connect with voters. Jim emphasizes that the critical issue for campaigns is figuring out how to connect with voters where they are across the increasingly complex media landscape.

We talk about

• Advantages the Obama campaign had over the McCain campaign
• When Sarah Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate
• Use of analytics to create specific media plans that target sub-groups of voters
• Value of celebrity endorsements of presidential candidates
• Efforts by candidates to enlist trusted influencers
• Getting back to hope and change

#TheBiggerHammerFilm #JimMargolis #BarackObama #PoliticalAds #Fundraising #MessageTesting #Pollsters #RapidResponse #Storytelling #Endorsements #2008PresidentialCampaign #KeithGaby #2008PresidentialElection #PresidentialCampaigns #PoliticalCampaigns

GMMB.com

Click here for the Interview with Keith Gaby, Director of The Bigger Hammer documentary.

The Bigger Hammer on Amazon Video