A Wren Says

Today is election day in the United States. It’s not a presidential election year, but these midterms races are hotly contested races. Across the country, the voters are heading out to determine who will take control of Congress. And I hope that as soon as the polls close that my phone will finally quiet down. Because these nonstop political ads via text messages have gotten crazy.

As someone who enjoys studying marketing, I know that campaigns have had to shift with the times. Text messages have replaced calls to house phones. YouTube ads replaced television commercials. And newspaper ads have almost completely died out.  But despite how times have changed, they are still keeping one old school tactic: Direct mail.

Every week, it seems, my mailbox would be stuffed with a new campaign ad extolling the virtues of one party. On the same day I would get another tearing it apart. And to be fair, there is a certain power in this type of marketing. It’s inescapable.  You have to go back home at some point, just like you have to check your phone. You will see the ad, even if for just the brief span of time it’s in your hands as you throw it in the recycling. I don’t know the statistics on how this tactic influences voters but it certainly has impacted my awareness of the candidates.

I’m looking forward to the day that I stop getting these ads, even though I know they’ll be back in another two years or less for the next big election.