Election year in the United States is somewhat surreal for the rest of the world. Bi-partisanism aside, the rallies, debates and insistent advertising are all part of the American democratic process. But how does that affect industries that might seem little related to politics?
This year, the USA is choosing a new president, a new Congress, as well as state and local representatives. Overall, Insider Intelligence estimates that a record $12 billion will be spent on political advertising this year, a 28% increase from the last elections in 2020. This means that marketing and advertising just got a lot more competitive.
With prime time slots reserved for the highest bidders, especially in swing states where a well placed advert can make a difference, less funded sectors like travel and tourism are being left out and have to resort to different mediums to send their message across.
The answer for all of us is that advertising from August through November is going to be more expensive.
Martha Sheridan, Meet Boston CEO and president
“There’s sometimes you just can’t buy advertising. We’ve seen some markets where the rate of advertising can double or triple year over year”, Brad Dean, Discover Puerto Rico CEO and president, told Skift at IPW, a travel trade conference in Los Angeles. “It doesn’t mean you stop advertising. It just means you adapt your strategy because the price goes up two or three times, but the payoff isn’t quite as good.”
Tourism boards and offices are however not that discouraged, as, according to Dean, the election has in fact little impact on tourist numbers. The solution to the spiking advertising prices? Change mediums.
Focusing less on traditional media like television and ratio and increasing efforts in online advertising seems to be enough to keep tourists on the road. Ads on travel websites, booking platforms and social media simply replace traditional mediums for a few months when the advertising space is flooded with campaign material.
