There’s no better time than election season to discuss the topic of political ads and the many dangers they encompass. In this Billboard Mastery podcast we’re going to explore this thorny issue and offer some suggestions on how to avoid the negative aspects.
Episode 153: The Dangers of Political Ads Transcript
The United States is a big country, and we have a lot of elections. And we elect a lot of people, federal level, state level, county level, even the city level, like aldermen, chamber of commerce people. All of these things happen through the American voting process. And what does it mean? It means that as all these candidates try and win your vote, they all like to place ads, as some of those are on billboards. This is Frank Rolfe, the Billboard Mastery Podcast. We're going to talk about some things you need to know about political advertisements.
Now, what is a political advertisement? It's just that. It's someone saying, "Vote for me." Maybe a Democrat, maybe a Republican, maybe an independent. They may put on that sign a picture of themselves. They may put a party affiliation. They may put some bullet points or a slogan as to why you should vote for them. And they target those ads all over America, rural areas, big cities, you name it. You'll find a never-ending stream of political ads. And some people have thought, "Oh, wow, that must be something that I should really go after. I really want to get those political ads on my sign. That'll allow me to convert that vacant sign into occupied. I'll make lots and lots of money." Well, here are some things you need to know about political ads before you get that confident in them.
The first thing you need to know about political ads is that you got to think from the perspective of what it may do to your ground lease on the property. Because your property owner may not like that party. They may not like that candidate, and it could cause you real problems. I learned that the hard way when I first put up a political ad, and then I got a call from my property owner demanding I take it immediately down.
They did not want that ad on their property. They were red. This candidate was blue. They demanded I remove it. And they told me, "If you don't remove it, you're be in violation of your lease because you have a stipulation in your lease you cannot have any ad that I, as the property owner, find abhorrent. You have to take it down." And it was a total mess. Now, here I am calling the advertiser saying, "I'm sorry, I got to take you down off the sign." "Well, you can't. You signed the lease on that sign. You can't take me down." And of course, you legally can't. It's not force majeure.
You screwed up. So then what do you do? You scramble around to find another sign to put them on if you have enough signs. And then what? Well, you probably have to let them go on the other sign for free to keep them from suing you on the other sign. So I learned from that first foray, political ads stink.
I didn't want to get into something where I was going to make my property owner mad and put in jeopardy my entire livelihood of that sign. Because here's another item to know about political ads. They're very short-term. Most people are going to want to run that ad for 60 days or 90 days. And you have to tell them, "Look, I don't rent ads by the 60 or the 90 days. You got to go at least six months."
And many of them won't do it. They'll say, "I can't do it. It's crazy. Why in the world would I do it for six months? I only need it for 90 days for the election." And then what happens? Well, week, billboard owners say, "Oh, well, okay. I guess three months is better than nothing." Well, it's really not. It just really is not. Because you're going to put that ad up there, you're going to make your property owner potentially mad, and all you're going to get is three months rent. And here's the next thing you need to know about political advertisements. They often don't pay you.
What they'll do is they'll figure you'll put up the ad, and then if they see they're losing in the polls, they just won't pay you. Or even if they win, they won't pay you. You probably have read articles in the paper about different candidates over time who still have unpaid bills because they lost. Kamala Harris has millions of dollars, from what I've read, of unpaid political expenses.
Why weren't they paid? Because she lost. That's what happens in all these elections. There's a winner, and then there's a loser. And the loser typically doesn't really want to make payments on stuff that he perhaps blames for him losing. So if it's not bad enough that political ads scare off property owners and they're very short-term in nature, they also have a habit of not paying you.
And there's another problem with political advertisers. If that isn't enough, that little political ad that you put up there took the time away and the energy away from putting somebody on there who would stay over and over. I've talked endlessly about how important retention is. These are advertisers who never stick because after the election, they absolutely come off.
Renewal is the key to being a happy billboard owner because when you have high rates of renewal, then you don't have to really put a lot of effort in to keep that sign full. When you have low rates of renewal, life is awful. There's nothing dumber if your goal is renewal than political ads. They have no future at all.
So why do people even do political ads? Well, they do them to fill vacancies on a very short-term basis. And a lot of your big sign companies have short-term programs, these 30-sheet poster programs, rotating programs, so they're kind of adapted to it. They're meant for short durations. They do things like advertise the fair when it comes to town and the circus and that kinds of stuff. But that's for the big boys. That's for the guys who have those 30-sheet posters and stuff. You probably don't have those at your disposal.
So as a result, when people come to you wanting to run an ad for some political group, perhaps the best course you can say is, "No, thank you." Because often, that political ad, although it looks like it's a quick way to make a few bucks, in the end, not only does it make you any bucks, but it costs you a lot.
This is Frank Rolfe of the Billboard Mastery Podcast. Hope you enjoyed this. Talk to you again soon.