The RampUp: Virtual Political Summit ascended into our computer screens last week on May 13 and we had a front-row seat (see: our living room couch)! In the wake of not only the global COVID-19 pandemic, but also the upcoming 2020 presidential election, this event was sure to intrigue. 

It is more important now than ever that agencies—and the legislators they represent—curate the proper message to make their points known. Given there are several different mediums to leverage for advertising these days, the conference shed light on how crucial it is to find a marketing mix that fits. 

Of course in today’s current climate, challenges have risen with even the most basic of advertising strategies. Forrester principal analyst Jay Pattistall opened the event by addressing those concerns and how to pivot to still win consumer trust. Throughout the day, speakers from Forrester, Roku, PwC, FourSquare, and more joined panels and presentations to share their insights on the future of regulation and how to best engage the voter. Our very own Lucy Caldwell, founder at Mockingbird Lab, shared powerful strategies from her work on the Joe Walsh 2020 campaign. 

Attendees walked away with insights pulled from real-life approaches to drive winning political campaigns. Other popular themes explored were transparency, opt-in, advertising avoidance, and data strategy. 

Our key takeaways from the Political Summit:

• The new normal is here and political advertisers must learn how to keep authenticity a priority to engage discouraged customers.

• Market intelligence is doing their part in the fight against COVID-19. Public Democracy President and Founder Eric Sapp presented on how big data is taking charge.  

• If you’re getting your data from somewhere or someone else, make sure you’re asking all the right questions–even if they seem simple!

• Given changes by platform publishers, campaigns need to reduce their reliance on voter files.

With so many virtual platforms out there, it can be overwhelming to choose one that will most benefit your event. For the Political Summit, RampUp hosted the event using On24. Because of this, they were able to curate the feel of an in-person conference with an audience Q&A portal, a short survey, session slides, and speaker bios all accessible right on the session homepage. I’ve included a snapshot of the On24 platform below during a panel on “Data for Good in the COVID Era.” This should provide a nice example of the customization you can find when using On24. 

All sessions are now available on-demand if you’d like to tune in!

We look forward to bringing the RampUp: Virtual Marketing Summit to life on June 10. Register here if you’d like to join us!