About that pressure release valve, elections ain’t cheap:
AdImpact reported Wednesday (Oct. 14) that the 2025–26 political cycle has surpassed $10 billion in combined aired ad spending and future reservations
It’s not stopping there:
expects total spending to reach $11.6 billion by Election Day
More than a billion left in less than a month.
The traditional TV ads we all expect from election cycles get the lion’s share, but hundreds of millions are forecast for digital. That’s a lot of room in the auction opening up in the aftermath.
(I can’t imagine what 2028 is going to look like)
What if your brand were a character in a Shakespeare play?
What type of play would it be? What role would it play? How would it be portrayed? How would it be remembered?
(I don’t know. Maybe there’s something here. Maybe it’s a fool’s errand.)
Pick a gif or a meme.
Reverse engineer it into an on-brand ad.
Will it work?
No clue, but it got you thinking differently.
Is Krampus Coming To Town?
Consumers are weird this year. They’re willing to spend, they just don’t feel good about it.
Record back-to-school spending and falling consumer confidence sent seemingly contradictory signals this year, but together they point to the trend likely to define the holiday 2026 shopping season: Consumers remain willing to spend, yet increasingly focused on value, promotions and purchase timing.
Consumers’ mood rings aren’t helped by the fact that they’re just paying more, not getting more.
growth is heavily price-driven as inflation-adjusted spending per child declined and the bifurcation between income cohorts widened further.
As we head towards the holiday season, a steady diet of political attack ads is unlikely to make people feel better.
November 3/4 is a pressure release valve. Political ad spending plummets just as retail and holiday ads are ready to fill the void. The headline machine is still spinning, but the immediacy to act is gone.
No matter what, a portion of the population is getting a dopamine hit. How long that lasts (and how it impacts spending) might depend on the level of post-election WWE cage fight we’re subjected to.
People are looking for alternatives to screen-based experiences.
Log off. Tune in. Show up.
You got to think more about how can you design a space that people will remember as opposed to one that they just want to be photographed in.
People are the reason.
The experiences I remember the most in retail are when a salesperson interacts with me.
Experience is the product.
The spectacle is a one-time draw. The circus travelled.
Spectacle gets people in the door.
Experience gets you remembered.
If you’re not going to put any effort into creating the ad, why should anyone put any effort into clicking on it?