So, Patrick’s ads are now up and running. They’re not bad, but I found myself hoping for a little more bite. His 90-second convention video clip was just about perfect, drawing heavily from his Faneuil Hall rally, which may well have been his best event. The new ad seems like a pared-down version of that, but I think it tries to accomplish too much at once — sort of a “bio” + “everyday folks” all wrapped up in one. In a sense, it suffers from the same over-ambition as the new Kerry Healey ad — but thankfully without the defensiveness and rationalization. With the too-quick cuts and the cluttered imagery, the admakers get in the way of the candidate here.
Now, many folks here have already seen the Faneuil Hall footage — or were there — so that’s not news to us, but it may seem intriguing to folks who don’t know the candidate. But frankly, I’d rather hear 30 seconds of him talking — uninterrupted.
The second ad, featuring Patrick in a classroom, is actually a bit better. I don’t know how much time he’s actually spent arguing cases in a courtroom, but he reminds one of a lawyer making a case to a jury — not in an overtly manipulative way, but seeming to appeal to one’s good sense. However, Gabrieli’s been in that classroom for a couple of weeks, so this may well come across as a bit of a “me too” moment — the atmosphere of it seems a bit staid and contrived.
In the end, the ads really don’t do justice to the candidate. (And by the way, having talked to Gabrieli at length, his ads don’t represent him well either. In person, he projects a certain wonky vigor and dynamism — so why does he talk so slowly in his ads? Let the man out of the straightjacket already, huh?) Image-makers — photographers, media consultants, even audio engineers in my experience — tend to be control freaks, type-A, detail-oriented personalities. And you need that in a campaign.
But sometimes you need to just set the candidate free a little bit, to let the power of his or her personality express itself unmediated. A politician may have more or less charisma or polish, but usually there’s some reason why people respond to him or her to begin with. It ought to be a consultant’s job to find that, channel it, magnify it, and otherwise get out of the way.
I hadn’t posted yet on the ads because I wasn’t sure how to put it. You did a good job explaining why the ads are, well, fine, but not terrific. As you say, they really don’t capture very well why so many people (and there are a LOT of people) are really jazzed up about this guy.
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Re Gabs, well, he talks slowly in the ads because when he starts talking fast it’s hard to understand him – his words run together. I called him out on one of his first ads for being incomprehensible. Tough balance to strike.
… should talk fast and turn up the volume!
I was pondering the advertisements last night on the way home. Yes, they reinforce what I already believe, but I am fearful of a few things. One is something Charley already mentioned, that,
Well said, Charley.
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But I have a second fear.
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I am worried to see a campaign that had built a great grassroots network go up in flames. The majority of people think true grassroots campaigns don’t work. I keep citing Deval’s campaign as a perfect example contrary to popular political belief. But, how come the media did not tap into the enthusiasm and base of ideals/feelings/thoughts and funnel it into an effective ad campaign?? Was this a waste of the millionth dollar online donation? I hope that John Walsh sits back and truly considers what fueled this campaign from the very beginning: a politics of hope. For once, follow the heart, not a consultant. Those ads will be a true success and representative of what the Deval Patrick campaign truly stands for.
… and possibly struggling with a somewhat old-fashioned way of doing things when it comes to political media.
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Here’s their media company, with their other candidates: Obama, John Edwards, Tom Vilsack, etc. Notable is Eliot Spitzer in his last AG race — notable because he has since moved on to a standard Madison Avenue firm which is doing very nice work.
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The ads are all of a decent quality, but very familiar-sounding.
I’m also on board with the “The ads are okay, but I was really expecting a lot more from DP” camp.
I’m just glad to see them up.
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I think the ads are a good entry level introduction to Deval.
have another cup of Kool-Aid. đŸ˜‰
Great analysis Charley. I came to pretty much the same conclusion but I think the education ad was the weaker one only because it lacked any substance whatsoever. I think of it as a harmless bait and switch, we expected education policy but instead got a little lesson on politics as usual.
at which elementary school the ad was filmed?
That was Gab’s kids’ playroom.
1) A make believe set at a “photo shoot”.
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2) At a (gasp!) Charter School.
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3) At some public school.
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Inquiring minds want to know…. which was it?
It could have been a parochial school, or maybe they dressed up a classroom at Milton Academy! It’s not likely that it was a public school, as that would be against the law.
in the reception from those who are not familiar with the campaign or the candidate. After all, that’s the target audience of the ads anyway. In no way do I wish to knock the community here, but this is one issue on which I think our perceptions are the least valuable. I’m looking forward to doing lit handouts this weekend and going forward to find out how these are received as an introduction to the candidate.
Personally, I think the first ad is almost terrible and the second is better, but you’re right. It doesn’t matter what I think. I’m not the target audience, and I’ve made up my mind already.
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I’d be interested in hearing what low-information voters think about them.
The ads that we are now being bombarded with do not work.
These self defining ads tell us nothing about the candidates that people actually want know. After all, the content of the ads come from some toady employed by the candidate. Your parsing of them makes me think you think they will be an imporatant factor in the race.
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The people want to know:
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Who has the best head of hair?
Who is the tallest?
Who has a limp handshake?
Who has terrible halitosis?
Who has the hottest wife?
Who has the best rack? Well this one we already know, don’t we?
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More people vote based on some irrational belief than vote based on some self preening ad. Those ads tell me nothing. Now the negative ones . . . those will tell me all I need to know. We will see many of them before this is all over. Watch out if Deval slumps any further in the polls. Just picture it …
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A new morning in a rustic setting. . . the cock crows, the red sunrise tints the mist on the meadow. A well dressed white man looking very much like Chris Gabrielli comes through the grand white columns of his mansion. He is dressed in old fashioned equestrian gear. A young black boy in rags brings the man a grand white stallion. The man notices a smudge of mud on the harness and viciously whips the boy with his riding crop. “Ha many times ah told you to clean the tack, boy?” “SSSSSorry massah” stammers the young boy.
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Cut to Deval detailing the abuse of minorities by Gabrielli in the modern workplace. He then touts his own work with Texaco, Coca Cola and Ameriquest and how he made it so much better for the minorities affected by those benevolent institutions. Now here is an ad that would resonate!