Mike Bloomberg Revolutionizing Youtube Ads

Brittany Van Pelt

https://www.youtube.com/user/mikebloomberg

For my blog post, I am analyzing Mike Bloomberg's use of Youtube (ads) to spread his campaign's message. For starters, Bloomberg was already behind many of his fellow candidates when he entered into the race back in November. Unlike many of his campaign rivals who are created a grassroots donation campaign, Bloomberg is a billionaire. So he has been siphoning his own money to create ads on Google and Youtube. On average, Bloomberg is spending about $7 million a day to advertise on Youtube. This massive campaign is Bloomberg strategic means to catch up and district many complaints about his money use in this election. However, what I think is Bloomberg downfall to this level of strategic planning is a lack of direct in-person connection with voters. Many other candidates have spent as much as of their time as well as money in primary states getting to know voters. This is personal form of interaction that Bloomberg has not done and it makes his candiacy look a little unauthentic. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/bloomberg-spending-big-google-it-s-persuasive-n1140571

By using Youtube, I believe Bloomberg is trying to reach out to just every demographic and audience he can. Youtube is a versatile site that crosses all age groups and racial demographics.
Bloomberg is also being strategic by have ads that are 5-10 seconds long. A quick, but repetitive ad will make it less likely that someone who click the skip button. Bloomberg campaign definitely has two clear call to action connected to it. In many of his ads, Bloomberg starts with a VoiceOver of President Trump saying something radical or unworthy of the office he holds. Then, Bloomberg enters in promises of why he is the best person to beat Trump and how as former Mayor of NYC, he knows how to get things done. The second call to action is a standard theme with many presidential races. Bloomberg tries to solidified that he is the American Dream. That is he can go from being middle class to a billionaire, his audience can too. The ad is a montage of his life so far--- from childhood, to career, to his run for president now.

Bloomberg's Youtube page is mainly used to introduce him to the public and for people to learn how to get involved with his campaign. There isn't much innovation for the individual to partake in. The campaign does use the Youtube ads to project this idea of Bloomberg as the only candidate that can beat Trump. I think it tries to build a community of mostly centrist Democrats. Folks that don't want Trump to be in office, but also don't see themselves in a lane with more progressive Democratic candidates.

I don't believe that Bloomberg is using this platform in any innovative or eye-catching way. I think the way he is marketing this content to the public is genius. Bloomberg decided to skip all the primary states and focus on Super Tuesday elections which is where his name is going to be on ballot for the first time. I think this is beneficial for him because it will allow him to get his name out to the public, a couple of debates for visibility and ideological differences with other candidates, and then hopefully gain some traction. His main source of introducing himself to the public is through repetitive-looping of his ads on TV and on YouTube. However, I don't think this will be a successful or winning strategy for him. I think the campaign is definitely missing out on connecting with voters in an authentic, in-person way. Like I stated earlier, since Bloomberg got in therace later than most candidates, he wan't focused on the primary and caucus states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Even though they don't have a ton of delegates, they can give a candidate a great deal of momentum going forward. I think for a candidate like Bloomberg that isn't well know out of the trig-state area, this was a mistake to not do.