Presidential Campaigns
Over the course of my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work on of the highest level campaigns on the planet. The most notable being Joe Biden’s 2020 and 2024 presidential campaign run and then Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign run.
The number of ads created for these types of campaigns are staggering and the odds of making one that stands out and grabs the nation’s attention is so small. I’ve been lucky enough to do so for both campaigns.
Kamala Harris 2024 Presidential Campaign
When Joe Biden dropped out of the Presidential Race in 2024 and Kamala Harris took his place, I had the honor to work with the new campaign. My top ad for them was entitled “Unstable Threat.”
I was presented with a script and links to news pulls to help formulate the ad. My approach was not only to showcase the damning quotes but to help establish visually that these were people who were close to President Trump and part of his inner circle during his first term. The additional photos hovering in the peripherals were used as subtle enforcer to this idea as well as the scrolling dates at the very beginning of the spot. It was a happy circumstance that I was also able to locate a photo that showcased three of the four speakers with President Trump to set credibility at the start.
This spot was specifically aired on Fox News in West Palm Beach Florida and Philadelphia the day of the Harris vs Trump Presidential debate for the 2024 cycle. It accumulated 5 million views across both youtube and x.com.
“Prosecute” was produced early in 2024 and was part of a 7-figure ad buy that aired during the Kentucky derby that spring. It received prominent news coverage including segment features on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, CBSnews.com and Huffingtonpost.com. One of the highlights of my career was the photo I received of President Biden personally viewing and approving the ad before it aired that spring.
Joe Biden 2024 Presidential Campaign
For Joe Biden’s next run, I got the opportunity again to produce a whole series of ads. The most impactful of which were “Williow’s Box,” “They Don’t Care,” and “Prosecute.” These series of ads were worked on in conjunction with Bluesky Strategies and were based on a series of testimonials shot throughout the ramp up of the campaign.
I was given the footage and allowed to produce the spots based on what was filmed. This was the first real time I was given creative control to craft the script and the messaging of an ad, not just the editing portion of it. In conjunction with producers Amy Romanow and Miriam Arkin, we took my initial cuts and refined them into the spot you see below.
“Willow’s Box” was part of a 36-million-dollar ad buy across battle grounds states and received national news attention with 10 million views the first 2 weeks of its debut across both youtube and x.com. This ad was featured across national news media including publications such as the New York Times, NBC, Axios, Politico, and Morning Joe.
“They Don’t Care” was part of a seven figure ad buy and aired the third day of the Republican National Convention in 2024 across the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. It included placements in the WNBA All Star Game, 60 minutes, the Bachelorette, and pre-Olympic coverage that month.
Joe Biden 2020 Presidential Campaign
For Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, the highlight of that year was the “Barns for Biden” spot that I got to edit. We had received permission to utilize “Fortunate Son” by CCR as the music track for the spot and VO was provided by the award winning actor Sam Elliott.
The turnaround time to create this spot was a few days at best but the results resounded throughout the campaign. It gained national news attention and was awarded a gold Pollie award in 2021 for excellence in political advertising and communications.