How Digital Strategy Elevated Bill Lee from Political Outsider to Tennessee Governor

The primary field: Bill Lee alongside Diane Black, Beth Harwell and Randy Boyd

The Task

In what became one of the largest Republican upsets in 2018, AdVictory set out to design a full-scale digital program for Bill Lee — a lesser-known, outsider businessman with less than 30% initial name recognition in the Tennessee gubernatorial race.

In a crowded primary where Lee was outspent 3 to 1, AdVictory first sought to build name ID among modeled likely supporters as cheaply and efficiently as possible.

Bill Lee for Governor campaign video shown on a desktop monitor

The Solution

AdVictory paired traditional digital voter contact methods with sequential ‘bumper’ creative as a cost-effective tool that offered both scale and high-frequency. Deployed as 6-second non-skip YouTube ads, these bumpers first introduced users to Bill Lee as a conservative outsider, automatically funneling viewers into new delivery pools where they were retargeted with bumper ads with sequential messaging on Lee’s stance on size of government, immigration, term limits, and family values.

Message 1: Bill Lee establishes himself as the race's only conservative outsider. Message 2: Bill Lee lays out his goal to make Tennessee the most efficient state government in all of America. Message 3: Bill Lee states his support for term limits as a solution to career politicians. Message 4: Bill Lee tells voters, 'I'm running for Governor because there's a big difference between leaders and politicians.'

Using Sequential Messaging to Build Name ID

Results: 228,067 unique users reached, 1,301,257 video views, an average cost per view around one cent, and a 35% increase in name recognition

The Results

Tasked with developing a statewide CTV/OTT program to mirror ongoing digital campaigns and complement TV buys, AdVictory combined ID work, polling data and media consumption analyses of existing target universes to model 387,000 persuadable cord cutters and 1,210,000 persuadable cord shavers

Other Case Studies

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Harnessing Machine Learning to Secure Sandy Stimpson's Mayoral Victory

Reaching the Unreachable: How Data-Driven CTV Strategies Boosted Bruce Rauner's Voter Outreach

Reaching the Unreachable: How Data-Driven CTV Strategies Boosted Bruce Rauner's Voter Outreach

Targeted Media Strategies Propel Nancy Mace to Congressional Victory

Targeted Media Strategies Propel Nancy Mace to Congressional Victory