This is truly a grass roots advertising campaign. And yet it’s wholly epic in the great American tradition. Two advertising veterans creating an online campaign for Bernie Sanders’ seemingly quixotic reach for the presidency. Grass roots yes, but hopefully not half as amateurish as the email blasts most political campaigns send out. It’s been an amazing journey, creating these ads, one in which I’ve honestly felt like I’ve been channeling the candidate’s vision and perspective. Or else he’s been in my head over the years and I didn’t know it. You choose…!
BE AWARE: These ads were developed as Bernie’s campaign evolved, so some will use facts or figures from earlier in the campaign, while others have been obsolesced by the movement of events. Feel free to share any of them, but be aware I plan to upgrade ALL ads before we go into the general election.
Ad #1: Developed to inoculate Bernie against attacks for being a Socialist. (see below the following text for the remaining ads in our CHANNELING BERNIE campaign.)
Originally, I thought I would just work out a campaign concept that Bernie might use in his email outreach, one that offered a little more punch than the run of the mill stuff he’d been sending out. A concept, you see, that had more intelligence and sex appeal, but was still relevant to Bernie, his campaign and his audience.
Of course once I got started, these ads/essays had a life of their own. So far, we’ve created over fifty ads/essays in this first leg of the journey—Primary Season. We’ll see where—if anywhere—things go from here. At the very least, these Bernie ads/essays offer a quick look at the wrongs Bernie will set right, his specific stances on specific issues, while some offer glimpses of others in the race. Here again, all of it channeling Bernie’s positions to the best of my understanding and ability.
A short word about the format of the ads/essays. I saw an ad in a Cleo Award Show book that gave me the idea to have my headlines serve as the start and finish to an ad’s entire copy statement. I’m not sure why, but the ads are highly compelling. It could be the reader’s natural curiosity about how the author made the start and the finish of the copy fit within the narrative flow—or could there be some momentum-building effect by having the beginning of an ad suddenly leap to the ad’s conclusion? Either way, the ads/essays are uniquely readable in this format, and possibly more engaging than the usual run of political online or print ads.
And so, with art direction by Bill Dahlgren, concept and copy by Paul Steven Stone, I offer for your inspection, enjoyment and further distribution the 51 ads—yes, 51!— that make up the Primary Phase of our “Channeling Bernie” advertising campaign. Actually, ad #51 is actually an attack on our opponent from the primaries, a woman who is not worthy of the presidency.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE ANY OR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING ADS. IT WOULD BE ESPECIALLY HELPFUL IF YOU COULD POST THESE ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA. THANK YOU!
Ad #2: On The Issue of Gun Control
#3: Intended to inoculate Bernie from attacks for being a Jew from Brooklyn. Also focused on combatting the electability issue head on.
Ad #4: Donald Trump ‘tribute.’
Ad #5: A ‘Love Song’ for Hillary.
Ad #6: Playing with an obvious and natural branding theme for Bernie.
Ad #7: My idea of how the campaign might ask for money. With a little more humor and panache. “Contribute” button would hyper-link to donor page.
Ad #8: Slight rant about those F@%king guys who gave the American economy a wedgie of giant proportions. Most readers, I believe, got the Wizard of Oz connection to “Liars, Tigers and Bare Greed! Oh my!”
Ad #9: My second Donald Trump tribute. Also, bringing back the Grumpy Old Man.
Ad #10: We are millions!
Ad #11: Moveon.org’s endorsement was a big deal, man. Real big!
Ad #12: I always loved the book title, “What Makes Sammy Run?” A great book by Budd Schulberg. Borrowing from Mr. Schulberg seemed to suit my purpose here.
Ad #13: Lucky 13 concerns those screw-up Republicans in all their Bush-whacking glory!
Ad #14: Are we hot or what!!
Ad #15: Bernie’s version of pro-life.
Ad #16: After seeing Bernie’s TV ad, “America” another Paul Simon song came to mind.
Ad #17: It’s the establishment’s turn to panic as they realize, “Oh my God, this guy’s for real!”
Ad #18: Wherein I speak directly to the Middle Class.
Ad #19: For those who would prefer their politics seasoned with less money and more public involvement.
Ad #20: And so we begin to break tHillary Clinton’s stranglehold on the Black Vote.
Ad #21: About those Goldman Sachs campaign donations…?
Ad #22: Have you started to wonder about things, to ask yourself why America seems so poor. And where did all the money go?
Ad #23: The man is a mensch! He sees, he cares, he acts.
Ad #24: Anybody notice Hillary’s shift to the left during the campaign, as Bernie’s messaging gets stronger and more universally accepted?
Ad #25: Doesn’t cost much to clean up government, just an average of $27!
Ad #26: The Road to the White House is festooned with obstacles, challenges and, yes, bandits.
Ad #27: He’s the Real Deal, Solid Gold, A Man For All Seasons and A Real Mensch!
Ad #28: Let’s take a moment out to talk about our Republican “Friends”
Ad #28a: An then we had a little fun with Ad #28a.
Ad #29: As for Brass Balls on Steroids, you can’t beat our GOP would-be-Presidents!
Ad #30: The Final Word; this time on Black Rights and Wrongs.
Ad #31: Hillary’s African-American support is a prime example of a population segment voting against its own best interest.
Ad #32: Bernie is the Real Deal. Over a long political career, he’s consistently supported the people over the corporations; the people over the insiders and the wealthy; the people over those who would use government to fleece the people.
Ad #33: Evidence is mounting that Hillary and Bill are trying to steal the nomination. Time to take off the kid gloves.
Ad #34: It’s All About TRUST!
Ad #35: Oh, so Hillary doesn’t won’t debate in New York, won’t she!
Ad #36: Really folks, are you seriously considering a candidate who is the subject of an active FBI investigation? And what’s going to happen when the shit from the Panama Papers hits the fan?
Ad #37: Bernie speaks to the Pope, Hillary testifies before the FBI. A contrast that says it all when comparing the two Democratic candidates for the presidency.
Ad #39: DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN!
Ad #40: How did things ever get this bad? And why did it take one man to wake us up to the truth?
Ad #41: Trying to succinctly define the incredible opportunity Bernie Sanders represents.
Ad #42: And now let’s pay a little attention to Hillary’s flaws. If a woman with $111 million can be said to have any flaws.
Ad #43: Wherein I appear to be F#%king Fed up with all this ELECTION FRAUD!
Ad #44: Can you believe the outright bias and censorship of the Mainstream Media-ocrity!
Ad #45: A snapshot of Hillary’s Election Fraud Machine at work.
Ad #46: The Fraudster strikes again! This time with the help of the Associated Press, and the DNC’s California stooges.
Ad #47: Rome Burns while the F.B.I. Fiddles!
Ad #48: A final ad to express our thanks for all Bernie has done. And that’s quite a lot!
Ad # 49: It was time for a musical break.
Ad #50: And then came Bernie’s endorsement of Hillary…
Ad #51: We just had to address the craziness of the leading contender for the presidency trying to cross the finish line before being hauled off to jail.
