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Paid Media for a Policymaker Audience During COVID-19

“One of the best ways to distribute information is to get it picked up by the media and newsletters that Congressional staffers are reading every day”  — Senior Staff, Senate

 

The Situation

In response to the current global health crisis, many organizations in the private sector have taken actions to support their employees, their customers, their local communities, and to assist the US healthcare system in treating or beating COVID-19. In one of the busiest times for policymakers, and against the backdrop of a crowded communications environment in DC, many organizations have begun proactively sharing positive stories of how their organizations have responded.

Our Process

Ballast combined its 7+ years of qualitative interviews and surveys among  senior policymakers with an analysis of 262 editions of Axios and POLITICO newsletters over eight weeks, including 706 unique advertising slots.

Overview of the Report

In the noisy DC communications environment, one of the keys to ensuring appropriate recognition for organizations’ efforts around COVID-19 is that they take an active approach to sharing their positive work.

Paid media plays a crucial role in the age of social distancing to ensure a broad cross-section of policymakers are able to see and hear about the work your organization has done. Ballast’s analysis focused on the following areas:

  • How and when ad copy shifted from standard messages to COVID-19 specific

  • The themes of COVID-specific advertising 

  • Which topics organizations chose to highlight most often

  • Collection of all COVID-related advertising content over eight weeks

Interested in the Full Report?