So the presidential election is approaching, and the hopefuls have already begun firing away with an overabundance of television ads aimed at swaying the general public in a particular direction. As nationwide state-level caucuses and primaries ensue, this five-month battle will continue to roar as we head towards the Democratic and Republican conventions. So yes, big ad spending will only get bigger, especially with the rise of independent groups exercising their splurging prowess. As a result, political analysts left and right are expecting this year’s political TV ad spending to total $3 billion. Now ask yourself: will this oversaturation of ads be beneficial or will it come with substantial downsides?

I get it. The January primary is heating up, so the claws—or should I say the checks—are coming out, and presidential hopefuls are ready to pay a hefty price to knock out their competition. According to Kantar’s Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG), as early as January 9^th, residents of South Carolina had already seen more than 5,500 presidential ads, some of which were negative ads directed towards other Republican candidates or President Obama. This leaves me to ponder: what audience are they trying to target for these campaigns? And are they succeeding?

Spending too early can result in wasted ad space, considering certain viewers are not even aware or expecting ads to run right now. I would be more inclined to pay close attention to the views, opinions and policies coming from ads as the election draws near. And campaigns that crank out too many ads at a time leave me confounded beyond belief as I mesh through all the different stances being thrown my way. This is why politicians, their campaign strategists and their super PACs should really consider who their messages are intended for—especially the negative ads.

Negative ads can also have an adverse effect on the campaign running them, being that there are independent, undecided or moderate voters looking to make a more informed decision. These individuals typically look for facts, policies and a true stance—not for partisanship.

To ensure their ads are effective in reaching the masses, let’s take a look at some options the candidates can consider when aiming their ads at us.

Point 1: To avoid missed opportunities and to prevent your ad from getting caught in the shuffle, stick to a specific theme/approach (positive I would hope) and repurpose it with additional language that gauges shifts in public opinion on what’s important to us.

Point 2: If you are going to draw a sharp contrast between yourself and another candidate, point out the facts only, and leave the rumor mill tactic for the playground. Eliminate the use of edited clips that are taken out of context or offensive remarks that insult people’s religion, ethnicity and/or social class.

Point 3: To stand out with authenticity, candidates and their super PACs should infiltrate the markets with their big spending by offering solutions to local issues that are plaguing residents in that specific community, city and/or state. This attaches a more personal and relevant appeal to your ad and the overall campaign.

As the race to the Republican and Democratic conventions continues, we will see commendable speeches, notable slogans, inspiring actions and surely a bombardment of ads. Just keep your eye on the ones that you feel totally miss the mark in terms of beefing up support. One bad ad can lean that needle in the non-favorable direction, causing a candidate’s polling numbers to diminish.

How do you think ad spending will affect the primaries and the outcome of the presidential election?

-Michelle Nash

Just as naysayers began to fret over Twitter’s lack of online refurbishment, concerns regarding the laissez-faire attitude of the social medium were recently laid to rest. The social engine of curt responses has decided to ring in the new year with a new interface for companies looking to personalize their accounts. Thus, Twitter has come off the bench and taken hold of its position in the starting lineup, ready to score against their rival teams in white and blue (Facebook and LinkedIn).

In 2011, Facebook and LinkedIn incrementally steeped their new online components and features in a preponderance of news releases and forums, leaving Twitter lagging behind with its original functionality. Now that the social tides are changing, Twitter has finally set sail to deliver brand pages to its users, with selected companies serving as the litmus test. To kick things off, Twitter reached out to 21 partner brands in an effort to provide them with a more distinctive presence.

Being that every Twitter page completely mirrored the next, Twitter developers wanted to create a more interactive and idiosyncratic experience for the user. The page has been redesigned to incorporate header images (for company logos or product placements), embedded tweets, videos and photos. The rich media capabilities of the enhanced profile page offer business accounts stationary promotional tweets at the top of the page, and a “New Connect” section that tracks those who have followed, retweeted or mentioned the brand.

The convenience of embedded tweets and videos can help to minimize the hassle of redirection, but will the additions truly increase visitor/viewer engagement? Keep in mind: this social dais can be used steadily without the need to visit a user’s page. After becoming a follower, you receive continuous updates from that user within your live feed, eliminating the need to visit their profile page, right? So will this new function improve Twitter’s position as a contender in the social media ring, or will it sputter away into the realm of digital oblivion in the face of its communal challengers?

I suppose time will tell whether or not this revamp has legs of longevity—whether it keeps users interested in revisiting profile pages more frequently, if at all. However, now that Twitter has beefed up its audience to over 50 million users, I’m sure their advertising revenue will help maintain their financial traction. Either way, with that many ears listening, there’s no reason their paid marketing platform will not prove fertile ground throughout the years to come.

Do you think the usability of the site will keep engagement high?

-Michelle Nash

As talk around the water cooler breeds interest in possible messaging “pop-ups” during network programming, this platform could soon imitate online digital nuances.

Initially, we all watched the dynamic change from the acceptable “snipe” usage on television, which typically showcases the network’s logo or animated tagline at the bottom of the screen. This tactic then transcended into the idea of having our TV screens bombarded with “bugs,” “pop-ups,” logos—or whatever you decide to decipher it as.

This creative but slightly distracting feature has now caused advertisers to glare in the potentially bright direction of utilizing this feature for product placement. Clearly we are navigating away from the days when displaying a loaf of Wonder Bread on a kitchen counter during a TV episode actually cut the mustard. More effective approaches are being sought after.

Microsoft’s Bing capitalized on the opportunity to have their ad placed on FOX during certain episodes of a highly viewed television show. Now ask yourself: could this be the new TV “pop up” that will drive product sales or keep viewers engaged and encouraged not to rely on the DVR playback tool? Will this speak only to the tech-savvy generation of information-crazed web surfers? Who will be more accustomed to this type of penetrative advertising? It’s highly plausible that this could be the future—this fusion of digital and TV, as long as it doesn’t become an overused, cluttered tactic that fizzles during this creative collision course.

Now if this “bug” offers some kind of limited-time promotional incentive for viewers that only lasts throughout the two-hour duration of my favorite singing competition, The X Factor, then I am all for it. Maybe if it inspires an immediate call-to-action attached to the message, I’ll possibly think twice about using that DVR record option that I know too well. Either way, the line is becoming pretty blurry as the light flickers on the way traditional television and digital advertising platforms have been used in the past.

-Michelle Nash

An avid hunter’s survival disposition sneaks into play when aiming at a target. With the loaded ammunition in tow, ready to be volleyed through the crisp clear view, you aim. Shoot. Did you hit your target?

Missing targets is not a successful hunter’s favorite part of the journey, but when charting a new course, you have to refine your proficiency. As technology continues to revolutionize the way marketers successfully engage their targets, it will aid in diminishing missed opportunities.

A modernized approach has manifested itself in the minds of interested tech-investors, who have jumped at the option of serving up target-specific ads in real time. Yes, display advertising practices have been given a major facelift, with 14 units injected between the eyebrow and the forehead to ensure that a 25-year-old woman never looks at an Old Spice ad again while shopping.

Imagine you’re at your favorite department store or Dick’s Sporting Goods, and as you come into close proximity of a display signage platform, you see an ad populate on the screen that speaks to your needs, interests or desires. As you turn to walk away, another digital advertisement clasps onto the fabric of your curiosity again. Does suspicion embed itself in your instincts as you begin to ponder if you’re being hunted by some mysterious force? Well, you would be justified in feeling that way.

This enigmatic venture is artificial intelligence spawned by a New York City startup, Immersive, which is dead set on making advertisements function more like webpages. This software uses anonymous facial detection to calculate the prospect of success per impression in order to display an ideal ad… in real time. This sophisticated machine-based optimization also incorporates strategies and criteria integrated by the marketer in hopes of catching bait. Privacy is not invaded in any respect, as the divulging of personal information is not warranted or suggested. Instead the process uses APIs such as Foursquare, weather data and time of day to determine age, gender and attention span, even in large crowds.

If I were a retailer or marketer, I would be inquisitive when evaluating the effectiveness of the campaign ads served up to those targets by this software. Hopefully this advanced technology records the length of time eyes are spent gazing so as to rival other emerging targeted software practices that are based on general demographics and a facial imprint.

In this ever-evolving, survival-of-the-fittest creative marketplace, you have to be prepared to aim and shoot with a decreased probability of missing any targets. That’s what separates the good hunters from the bad.

Technology is emerging daily and forcing advertisers to try new things, what are your thoughts on such a sophisticated machine? Do you think consumer will bite the bait?

-Michelle Nash 

The idea of being faced with “too many options” can cause an overwhelming stir of disappointment or indecisiveness for the consumer. How do we as brand ambassadors reduce the risk of shoving too much information onto the hard drives of the consumer within the digital space? How does the consumer then filter through the droves of information that dominates their everyday life in this vastly growing digital age? With a plethora of social networking, social bookmarking and blog sites, pop-ups, banner ads, products and celebrities requesting that we “like” or “follow” them in some form, it’s going to become increasingly challenging for companies and brands to avoid making consumers feel barraged by all of these messaging tools.

Within the landscape of digital innovation, NewsCred, a New York-based startup, thinks they’ve finally got it right when it comes to redefining the method traditional newswires have used to find the right audience. This “third-time” re-launch of the digital space now uses licensing fees from a roster of 700+ highly credible media brands in exchange for distributing content to the appropriate audience. Syndicating content in this manner could create an incremental stream of revenue for content creators as well. Bigwigs like Forbes, Bloomberg and even Billboard are just a few of the sources that recently bought into this new monetized opportunity.

Despite the perception that newswires are synonymous with public relations and journalistic strategies, this type of content-driven tactic doesn’t necessarily have to live in that realm. I think advertisers could get pretty creative in generating exposure and revenue within the advertising space through this platform as well. Marketers could position themselves as content providers for this digital medium by pushing videos (whether commercial spots, viral campaigns or a web series for a product or brand) out onto this newswire for any interested user to pick up and distribute in turn to their interested viewer.

Another possibility could be to utilize advertorials when advertising a certain product, campaign or brand. This type of advertisement is typically presented in the form of a third party’s point of view and highlights the features of a product or brand, all woven together in an article format. Pushing advertorials out onto the wire can create exposure and generate revenue. In measuring the audience’s reach and its overall efficiency, NewsCred offers pretty in-depth analytics that go beyond webpage hits. They also examine who’s viewing the content and what type of device it’s being viewed on.

What separates this wire from others, aside from algorithms, is the bonus of having human curators. Yes, they have a full house of editors who help in deciphering which content will be relevant to a particular user before distribution based on the user’s customized profile.

The sky’s the limit in this digital universe, filled with millions of shiny and somewhat blaring messages that we sometimes have to tirelessly sift through. What if this type of forward-thinking technology sieves through the wilderness for you by placing your messages directly in the hands of an interested consumer?

-Michelle Nash

Everyday strokes of decorative action, like painting a wall or hanging pictures, may be no-brainers for some, but are these same décor connoisseurs applying such practices to their online walls for, let’s say… Facebook?

If your answer is no, then you are among the masses of both small and large businesses that have fallen victim to not fully integrating the presence of their social wall with a true lattice of progressive elements. Sure, we are all feeling our way through this social web of perpetual adjustments as we add and divide our wall posts and try to determine this medium’s ROI. But in the meantime, let’s try to dazzle our presence up a bit with a little shine and convenience so as to fuel our campaign’s efficiency.

Constant Contact has heard our amateurish cries in the effort to appeal to our targets and extend our reach through the infamous Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In applications. Because it is not restricted to Facebook, the new social media component that they’re launching in 2012 does not live in a vacuum. The reformed email marketing giant has implemented a content management system that allows users to choose from several templates, organized by campaign, which will publish a link to a campaign across all social networks simultaneously. Mind you, this is done with a simple push of a button—coined the “simple share” feature. You may be wondering what makes this social endeavor so avant-garde. Well, its simplicity does.

What separates Constant Contact from their competitors is their program’s user-friendly “drag and drop” editor, which allows businesses to create a product showcase and offer downloadable content, printable coupons, videos and more—and filter it all through social websites. Furthermore, when a visitor surfs onto your page, they will not be subjected to the somewhat drab, banal and monotonous wall display. Instead, your customizable “reveal” page will appear initially and tie in all of your preferred elements on a more attractive backdrop.

So next time you work on featuring your inner HGTV-styled design ideas on your walls, make sure your canvas isn’t limited to just the brick and mortar. Provide a sense of opulence with your social media flair to catch that much-needed attention for your campaign.

– Michelle Nash

A few years later, he helped out some acquaintances from New York City who were shooting a TV spot in Mexico and needed help formulating a concept for a client. The rest is history. After a single presentation, he was offered a job in New York. For the Hispanic market, Webelman has worked on brands such as Chivas, Stoli and Fifth Third Bank. He took a year off to attend the NYU Film Academy, where he studied cinematography and created various short films. Shortly thereafter, he was invited to participate in the creation of the Tecate and Tecate Light campaigns. He then joined Bromley Communications to work for the Coors and Coors Light brands.

Today, he is very happy working at GlobalHue in the QSR and telecommunications fields, with Subway and Verizon as his main clients.

As North American brand director for Allied Domecq’s Courvoisier Cognac, Wade was responsible for Courvoisier’s P&L, marketing and business development. Wade led the brand’s through-the-line advertising, channel development and strategic account programming throughout the United States, in addition to providing insights to strengthen the brand’s global marketing efforts.

He created Courvoisier’s Gentleman’s Tour, strategic off-premise tactics and the iconic XO advertising to stem the brand’s declines and return consumption to
double-digit growth. At Arnell Group, Wade worked directly with Peter Arnell overseeing the Reebok men’s footwear and apparel brand RBK. Previously, Wade served as editorial director for urbanMagic.com, an Internet venture founded by former Assistant Secretary of Commerce of the United States Larry Irving and “Magic” Johnson.

As the former account director of Russell Simmons’ advertising agency Rush Media, Wade worked closely with the media mogul on the highly political NYPD City Resident Recruitment Campaign to bolster their African-American and Hispanic recruits.

Before Johnson & Johnson, Samuels attended Stanford University, where he received his master’s degrees in business administration and education. Prior to Stanford, he worked in account management at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.