Do You Want Free Money?
Perhaps you’ve heard the 2024 presidential campaign has started. Today there are 17 candidates, and more may still appear.
With a dozen wannabes already in place, the Republican party has announced a threshold to qualify for the August 23rd primary debate. Only candidates with 40,000+ individual campaign donors (200+ unique donors in 20 states or territories) will appear on stage.
Enter North Dakota’s Governor Doug Burgum. With 779,000 constituents (the fourth least populous state), Burgum probably can’t outgun names like Trump and DeSantis. Hoping to improve his chances, he’s using an interesting marketing ploy.
A long-shot contender at the bottom of recent polls, he’s offering $20 gift cards to the first 50,000 people who donate $1 to his campaign. One lucky contributor will win a Yeti Tundra 45 cooler (value $300).
This maneuver has generated healthy amounts of free press in the NY Times and elsewhere, though their using words like desperation probably haven’t helped him. Burgum’s campaign admits these promotional efforts are meant to help “secure a spot on the debate stage while avoiding paying more advertising fees to social media platforms who have owners that are hostile to conservatives.”
Campaign finance lawyers are questioning the legality of Mr. Burgum’s strategy.
Other candidates (Christie, Johnson) are using equally novel approaches to gain donors, with varying degrees of success.
Retailers use loss leaders to get customers in the door, hoping they’ll buy other, more profitable items too. In Mr. Burgum’s case, he’d better have a strategy for converting sales prospects into long-term customers if he’s looking for lasting success.
The problem is that with his short runway and heavy competition, Mr. Burgum may not be able to successfully turn these 50,000 prospects into voters. Arguably, even if he gets onto that stage, he still must outshine some better known (and presumably louder) competitors. The show is two hours long, and after subtracting time for questions, drama, and (ostensibly) 11 other candidates wanting to speak, he’ll be fortunate to get six minutes of airtime.
Advertising doyen David Ogilvy observed “It’s not creative unless it sells,” so this move is arguably worth it if it helps Mr. Burgum achieve his short-term objective. It’s certainly an interesting angle, and he wouldn’t be the first president who bought his way into office.
With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.
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