At some point during the week, an update was pushed to the
Mitt's VP smartphone app, created by a digital team led by Zac
Moffatt with the help of WPP's Rockfish. What started as a way to
alert supporters to Mr. Romney's pick of a vice-presidential
candidate is now a fully fledged tool designed to motivate and
activate supporters.
For the Republicans, the convention was seen as a success. While
the speeches of Ann Romney and Chris Christie may not have
delivered on the high expectations set for them, both were solid
efforts. And Wednesday night's duo of former Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and VP nominee Paul Ryan galvanized the crowd. Mr.
Ryan's lawyerly fudging of a GM plant closure -- which he seemed to
lay at Mr. Obama's feet despite the plant closing before the
president took office -- did distract from the Republican's party
Thursday as the media gave it a full day of play. But the surprise
appearance of Clint Eastwood -- as painful as the vaudeville act
was to watch at times -- and a solid performance by Mr. Romney
himself seemed to get the Republican's train back on track.
TV ratings for the convention were a mixed bag. Compared to last
year's Sarah Palin speech, the VP's evening was down 41% this year
from 37.2 million in 2008, according to Nielsen. Mr. Romney's
night, on the other hand, saw 30.3 million viewers, no doubt helped
by the promise of Mr. Eastwood (who incidentally generated the most
tweets per minute out of all the RNC speakers, at 16,193, according
to BlueFin Labs). Mr. Obama's speech last presidential-election
cycle garnered 38 million viewers, the highest rated convention in
history.
One of the key undercurrents of the convention was a reaction to
the Democratic narrative that the Republicans are waging a war on
women. Aside from the traditional speech by the presumptive first
lady, there were Mia Love, the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah; New
Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez; South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley; and,
of course, Ms. Rice.
But don't expect a barrage of ads targeting so-called women's
issues. "Reaching women is incredibly important," said Ms.
O'Connor, "but you don't need women-specific ads." And while the
Democratic Party is "very much trying to create this idea that
there's a war on women ... it's not paying attention to women
voters," whose primary concern is the economy, she said.
One issue prevalent in this election cycle is the massive amount
of super-PAC money flowing into the advertising ecosystem. Here,
too, the Republicans have an advantage in terms of money. But it
was a misstep by Democratic super PAC Priorities USA that
highlights the potential challenges with that . While the parties
can't legally coordinate with the groups or control the message,
when a Priorities USA ad insinuated Mitt Romney and Bain Capital
gave a woman cancer and killed her, it was the Obama campaign that
took the brunt of the blame.
Earlier this year, rumors surfaced that a GOP super PAC was
thinking of hiring maverick political adman Fred Davis and making
an issue of Jeremiah Wright, the firebrand minister who Mr. Obama
distanced himself from in 2008. The effort never materialized,
however.
And during the conventions, both last week and next, members of
affiliated super PACs and parties will intermingle to such an
extent that the rules barring coordination will seem all but
meaningless.
Still, when it comes to advertising, both Republicans and
Democrats insist there is no coordination regarding media buys or
messaging.
"It's out of our control," said Ms. O'Connor, regarding the
super PACs. "Is it exactly the message I want? No. Is it exactly
the execution I would like? Not all the time." But, she added, "for
the most part, they've had a do-no-harm approach."