Coming Soon to a Computer Near You: Gigabytes of Politicking

At least since Joe McGinnis' classic book "The Selling of the President," about the 1968 presidential campaign, it has been a staple of conventional wisdom that political campaigns and consultants borrow the best techniques of Madison Avenue.

But with the rise of paid advertising on the Internet, there has been for some time now a conspicuous gap between the political world and the corporate world. Even though online advertising has become a settled part of the media strategy of mainstream companies and advertising agencies, it has remained a relatively isolated phenomenon in politics.

That is about to change dramatically. All indications are that as the 2004 presidential race gets underway in earnest in the months ahead we will see an explosion of paid political advertising online.

The Supreme Court's recent ruling on campaign finance may be the spark that ignites the fire of online political advertising. The McCain-Feingold law bans corporations, unions and interest groups from using certain funds on behalf of a political candidate in the period shortly before an election, but the ban applies only to TV and radio. The court upheld this ban and rejected claims that it impermissibly favors the Internet. But even without this advantage, the case for online political advertising would be extremely strong.

In 2003, we witnessed the unprecedented use of the Internet as an effective tool for political organizing and fundraising, particularly by the Howard Dean campaign. It's only a matter of time before campaigns realize it will do the same for advertising.

The facts about corporate adoption of online advertising are overwhelming. Despite the boom and bust of the Internet bubble, total online advertising in 2003 exceeded $6 billion. Online advertising at leading media sites has jumped almost 40% this year. During the heat of the Internet craze, fly-by-night Internet companies were spending heavily on Web advertising. Now, the big spenders are hotels, car companies, insurance companies, airlines, retailers and on and on through the largest sectors of the economy.

The reasons are simple and straightforward. More than 140 million Americans are online. Many use the Internet at work. Daytime is prime time for the Internet. Internet advertising allows the advertiser to reach people at an important time of day on a scale that no other medium can match.