Australia has recently elected a new Government and with it a new Prime Minister. Russell Brown from Public Address raises the impact online advertising had on Australian election campaigns in a recent post:
…There will be debate about exactly what lessons can be taken into New Zealand’s election campaign next year, but there is no doubt about one thing: the internet will be important. Kevin Rudd, famously, has 20,000 friends on Facebook, and his Kevin07 website was a masterpiece of online momentum-building. The campaign ads that ran on Australian news websites were numerous and increasingly biting.
As the Electoral Finance Bill caps third-party campaign spending in particular, internet advertising will look both smarter and more cost-effective. The full-page newspaper ad your lobby group buys is tomorrow’s fish-and-chip wrapper — but the same money could buy you a pervasive campaign online. Just watch.
We nod furiously in agreement with Russell’s thoughts. Highly-targeted interactive advertising that chooses its audience, the time of day and where on the page it appears is a no-brainer when it comes to dollar-for-dollar value. Especially if you’re having to watch your advertising budget.