Attch 4 - 2024 Media Plan (Draft).pdf

PAID MEDIA PLAN

2024 Election Campaign

SEPT 15 2023

DRAFT

2022 PAID MEDIA PLAN 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 3

Goals 3

Target Audiences 4

Strategies and Tactics 4

Audience Targeting 4

Active Duty Military 4

Military Spouses 5

Overseas Citizens 5

Timeline 5

Media Mix 6

Flight Plans by Target Audience 7

Active Duty Military 7

Budget Plan 8

Flight Plan 9

Military Spouses 10

Budget Plan 10

Flight Plan 10

Overseas Citizens 11

Budget Plan 11

Flight Plan 11

Budget Allocation by Target Audience 13

Budget Allocation by Campaign Flight and Key Messages 14

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Introduction

The focus of the 2024 paid media campaign is balancing support for likely voters who are more engaged in presidential elections and actively seeking absentee voting information, while leveraging disruptive strategies that emphasize awareness of

FVAP as the premier resource for absentee voting information among young, potentially first-time voters in the military and overseas.

To maximize cost-efficiency and return on investment while meeting 2024 goals, the plan concentrates the media mix on digital channels that support a two-pronged approach of (1) hypertargeting and maximizing reach into highly qualified target audiences through digital channels with awareness messages followed by (2) engaging and retargeting those audiences who showed interest with direct calls to action on FVAP.gov that reflect ultimate target behaviors: registering and requesting a ballot and returning the ballot.

A $700,000 media buy employing solely digital channels will both drive action using FVAP’s online tools and resources and build recognition of the brand’s overall offerings — especially among the priority audience of first-time voters, who are digital natives — in the most effective and cost-efficient way.

The following paid media plan draws on insights and recommendations from the 2020 and 2022 election campaign evaluation for paid media while meeting the goals and parameters of the 2024 campaign framework, including budget and timing.

Goals

Consistent with the goals of the overall communications effort in 2024 to make it easier for UOCAVA voters to successfully vote absentee and position FVAP as a primary resource for those voters, the paid media plan establishes tangible, measurable goals centered on reach and conversion.

Paid media goals include:

● Maximize reach to target audiences;

● Generate engagement with messages and content;

● Drive traffic to FVAP.gov; and

● Drive action on FVAP.gov in the form of priority conversions.

○ Downloading the FPCA PDF form

○ Completing the FPCA online assistant

○ Downloading the FWAB PDF form

○ Completing the FWAB online assistant

These conversions represent a first step to offline target behaviors — registering and requesting a ballot and returning the ballot.

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Target Audiences

The paid media campaign will target three audiences:

● Active duty military (ADM) worldwide who are eligible to vote absentee, especially young (ages 18-24), potential first-time voters (priority primary audience), and would-be voters (those who wanted to vote and didn’t);

● Spouses and other family members of ADM (primary and secondary audience, in that they influence the primary audience); and

● U.S. citizens living overseas who want to vote (priority primary audience), including a subsegment of study abroad students.

Strategies and Tactics

To fulfill the consecutive goals of reach and conversion, the paid media strategy takes a two-pronged approach:

1. Hypertarget and maximize reach into highly qualified target audiences with awareness messages; and

2. Engage and retarget audiences with direct calls to action on FVAP.gov that reflect ultimate target behaviors:

registering and requesting a ballot, returning the ballot, and using the back-up ballot as needed.

This approach follows both the purchase funnel and Stages of Change model to guide audiences through the UOCAVA voting process. Throughout the course of the digital campaign, platforms will track audiences — following from unawareness to conversion — so that they’re receiving messages customized to where they are in the voting process.

Audience Targeting

By advertising online, the campaign can serve ads to highly qualified audiences — those firmly in the target who are likely to be interested in relevant topics and likely to demonstrate target behaviors — while excluding those who aren’t.

The plan will use the following targeting parameters to reach each audience segment depending on the options supported by each channel:

Active Duty Military

● Age: 18–24, 18–29, 25+

● Location: U.S., overseas, Top 20 international countries by ADM population; geofencing large installations and out-of-home placements

● Demographic » Military Status » Current Military; Demographics » Occupation » Military; Political Precision » Voters by Occupation » Voters by Occupation: Armed Services

● Custom Targeting: Email list from GovDelivery opt-ins; Lookalike audiences based on GovDelivery opt-in subscribers

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● Employer: U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy

● Keywords: military voting, military voting assistance, military voting overseas, how to vote in the military, voter registration military, overseas military voting, how to vote if you're in the military, absentee voting for military, and

500+ more

● Placements: News, Political, Military; Local News Publications in Largest Military Population Cities

Military Spouses

● Age: 18-24, 25+

● Location: U.S., overseas

● Custom Targeting: Email list from GovDelivery opt-ins; Lookalike audiences based on GovDelivery opt-in subscribers

● Interests: National Military Family Association, Army Wife Network, The Frugal Navy Wife, Navy Wife, Army Wife 101, SpouseBUZZ, Navy Wives Clubs of America, Military Wives, Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military

Wives, Military Spouse Central or Military Spouse

● Placements/Publications: Niche Publications

Overseas Citizens

● Age: 18–24, 18–29, 25+

● Location: Worldwide excluding the U.S.; Top international countries by U.S. citizen population

● Demographic>Expatriates/Foreign Workers

● Demographic>United States Residents

● Audience>Census Residency>Demographics>Citizenship Status>US

● Custom Targeting: Email list from GovDelivery opt-ins; Lookalike audiences based on GovDelivery opt-in subscribers

● Keywords: overseas voting, overseas voting form, register to vote overseas, overseas absentee voting, overseas voting ballot, voting from overseas, absentee ballots for overseas voting, how to vote from overseas, and 500+ more

● Placements/Publications: News, Reference, Political, and Lifestyle Verticals; Local News Publications in Major U.S.

Cities and National News Syndicates

Timeline

Paid media will run throughout the election year to coincide with State Primaries and, most importantly, the General Election. A first flight from February through March will focus on early action as preparation for the election year, using primary elections as a trigger, and serve as a pilot of the 2024 creative theme for testing purposes and a way to build audiences for later use (GovDelivery, calendar widget and for retargeting). A second flight running June through October will focus on the Presidential Election. Messaging in the second flight will follow the familiar pattern:

1. June–July: Use FPCA to register and request an absentee ballot by the recommended date of August 1.

2. August–September: Use FPCA to register and request an absentee ballot by your state’s deadline.

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3. Late September–Election Day: Vote and send in your ballot or FWAB by the deadline.

Media Mix

Digital channels are ideal for maximizing return on investment — a more reliable metric as verifiable performance data are automatically tracked on online advertising platforms — as opposed to the audience and ratings estimates that traditional media channels can offer. Real-time analytics show audience exposure and engagement with ads, allowing for immediate optimization and almost constant improvement.

The digital-heavy strategy will save money while reaching more of the target audience (i.e., increase effectiveness and efficiency). With the channels included in this plan, target audiences will already be using the platform where they can convert

(e.g., going to FVAP.gov from a social network to fill out the FPCA). Cross-media calls to action lead to much higher drop-offs and thus lower conversion, such as including a URL on a print ad, as opposed to a social media post that includes a link.

The paid media plan will include ads exclusively on digital channels, such as social media (e.g. familiar channels like Meta, YouTube, and Snapchat, and newer channels like Reddit, Twitch, etc.); ads purchased programmatically across the open internet like display banners, native content and video ads; ads on Connected TV devices like Roku, Apple TV and gaming consoles; audio ads on Spotify, Pandora (U.S. only), digital radio and podcasts, and audio in shopping centers near military installations; search engine marketing (Google Ads) and sponsored content; and placements like display ads, sponsored articles, and e-newsletters in niche military and expat publications (e.g., Military.com, Rally Point, Expat.com, The Local).

The goal of this media mix is to reach both a “likely doer” audience of motivated, experienced voters actively seeking information (through search engine marketing and contextually targeted ads), while taking a disruptive approach to reach unaware, young or first-time voter segments (YouTube, Snapchat, Twitch and niche publications).

Social media and programmatic advertising are powerful channels to leverage as we identify “needle-in-a-haystack” audiences at the right time to connect them to helpful FVAP resources. Using paid media on these channels will amplify messages beyond moments when they are thinking about the election and create a “surround sound” effect to increase message recall and offline action. Programmatic buying is the use of automated systems to purchase and deliver digital ads based on set targeting criteria and real-time data. Through programmatic buying, the campaign can serve a variety of placements — including but not limited to display, native, in-app, audio, video, and connected TV — to only target audiences in real-time on hundreds of thousands of websites. The platform used to serve ads learns over time where audiences are online, how to reach more of them more efficiently, and how to solicit action from them.

Search-engine marketing (SEM) has the advantage of reaching audiences actively searching for offerings related to the campaign, and thus likely to be interested. It is the most effective way to advertise online to “likely doers” — audiences further down the funnel who have already expressed an interest and are ready to convert. Since 2018, search engine marketing was the highest-performing channel in terms of reach and conversion metrics, as well as return on investment.

The inclusion of niche publications is intended to reach qualified audiences (likely in the target segment) who are unaware or in the precontemplation stage. These outlets offer a way to pinpoint audiences who most closely identify with being active duty military members, military family members or overseas citizens and thus potentially more likely to be interested in absentee

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voting. Niche publications also support sponsored content — ads native to the channel where they appear, mimicking the qualities of the publication or platform. Users associate the content of the advertising message with the publication, lending its credibility and other brand perceptions. For FVAP, the user can convert within the ad itself (by consuming the content related to how to vote absentee in the UOCAVA voting process, for example). The real estate afforded by sponsored content ads is greater compared to display or social media placements. For complex public education campaigns, sponsored content can deliver the entirety of the message with one placement — reducing bounce rates, audience confusion and misplaced messaging.

The direct buying approach with niche publications will be the primary tactic to continue offsetting Meta’s political advertising restrictions. This approach will also increase FVAP’s brand awareness and trust by associating with well-known, credible publications that UOCAVA voters may recognize and recall at greater rates. The campaign will also allocate weight to more popular, cost-effective social media networks like YouTube and Snapchat for younger audiences.

Within digital platforms, the campaign will first optimize ads for maximum reach and brand awareness and then will retarget users who engaged with ads or visited the website — especially those who haven’t converted as an efficient method of pushing audiences down the funnel.

Flight Plans by Target Audience

To ensure the paid media campaign is up-to-date and aligns with current channel best practices and rates, flight plans detailing campaign media mix, timeline, estimated performance and budget allocations by audience will be included in the final plans in TO10. Campaign plans from the 2022 midterm campaign are detailed below for reference.

Active Duty Military

The flight plan below lays out the paid media campaign targeting ADM. The age targeting and corresponding budget allocations show greater weight given to the 18–24 and 18–29 age groups.

Greater weight is also dedicated to Google search-engine marketing and YouTube — the highest-performing channels in 2018 and 2020 and the channels' priority segments are frequenting and consuming ad content through (according to JAMRS

Considerations for Service Member Outreach Report).

The contingency budget is reserved for additional or high-performing opportunities throughout the campaign. More budget may be allocated from proposed spend by audience or channel depending on performance. See Budget Allocation by Target

Audience below.

Budget Plan

Channel Ad Type Targeting Subsegments Spend % of Total Spend

SOCIAL

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Facebook / Instagram

Reach, Conversion; video and static posts

Occupation/military status;

location

18–29 $30,000.00 14.29%

30+ $15,000.00 7.14%

Snapchat Snap ads; story ads Interest; topics; geofencing 18–29 $10,000.00 4.76%

YouTube In-stream video ads

Keywords; topics; channels;

18-34 Unknown age; Global 18-34 $40,000.00 19.05%

SEARCH

Google AdWords Search engine marketing text ads

Keywords; U.S. and top

ADM countries $20,000.00 9.52%

DIGITAL

Digital Audio Podcast live host-reads

Contextual; Interests

Keywords; Site Retargeting;

Third-Party Data:

Demographic » Military

Status » Current Military;

Demographics » Occupation

» Military; Political Precision

» Voters by Occupation »

Voters by Occupation:

Armed Services

Keywords: military voting, military voting assistance, military voting overseas, how to vote in the military, voter registration military, overseas military voting, how to vote if you're in the military, absentee voting for military, and 500+ more

18-24 $10,000 4.76%

Programmatic

Display

Mobile, tablet and desktop banner ads: Cross-Platform Interstitial; Mobile

Adhesion Banner; Cross-Platform

Display; Retargeting

Global $15,000.00 7.14%

A18–29 $30,000.00 14.29%

NICHE

PUBLICATIONS

Task and Purpose

Sponsored article (x2) + targeted social distro; Content adjacent banners; Targeted social ads;

newsletter distribution

T&P users; e-news subscribers; social media followers Global $20,000.00 9.52%

We Are The Mighty

Sponsored article (x4), Social post

(x4), Added value newsletter distribution

Mighty users; e-news subscribers; social media followers Global $20,000.00 9.52%

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MEDIA COST

TOTAL $210,000.00

Flight Plan

Channel Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

SOCIAL

Facebook/Instagram

SnapChat

YouTube

SEARCH

Google AdWords

DIGITAL

Programmatic

Display

Digital Audio

NICHE

PUBLICATIONS

Task and Purpose

We Are The Mighty

Military Spouses

Budget Plan

Channel Ad Type Targeting Subsegments Spend % of Total Spend

SOCIAL

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Facebook / Instagram

Reach, Conversion; video and static posts

Age: 18–29 Location: U.S.

Interests: National Military Family Association, Army Wife Network, The Frugal Navy Wife, Navy Wife, Army Wife 101, SpouseBUZZ, Navy Wives Clubs of America, Military Wives, Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives, Military Spouse Central or Military Spouse 18–29 $12,500 71.43%

Military Spouse Festival (through T&P vendor)

Newsletter and targeted social media distribution

MSF followers (stateside, 18- 29); newsletter subscribers 18–29 $5,000 28.57%

TOTAL $17,500.00

SOCIAL

Facebook / Instagram

Military Spouse Festival

Overseas Citizens

Budget Plan

Channel Ad Type Targeting Subsegments Spend % of Total Spend

SOCIAL

Facebook/Instagra m

Brand Awareness, Conversion (or Traffic if pixel cannot be placed)

OCPA 2018 Expat Lookalikes 18+; OC 18+ Expats (U.S.) - Top Countries; OC 18-24 Expats (U.S.) - All Countries

18–29 $20,000.00 16.33%

30+ $15,000.00 12.24%

SEARCH

Google AdWords Search engine marketing text ads Keywords; U.S. and top ADM countries $20,000.00 16.33%

DIGITAL

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YouTube In-stream video ads Keywords; topics; 18-44, Unknown age; Worldwide $20,000.00 16.33%

NICHE

OVERSEAS

PUBLICATIONS

Canada TBD U.S. citizens in Canada $5,000.00 4.08%

UK TBD U.S. citizens in the UK $5,000.00 4.08%

Israel TBD U.S. citizens in Israel $5,000.00 4.08%

France TBD U.S. citizens in France $5,000.00 4.08%

Australia TBD U.S. citizens in Australia $5,000.00 4.08%

OTHER

Contingency $2,500.00 2.04%

TOTAL $122,500.00

SOCIAL

Facebook/Instagram

YouTube

SEARCH

Google AdWords

DIGITAL

Programmatic Display

NICHE PUBLICATIONS

All countries

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Budget Allocation by Target Audience

Budget allocation by both audience segment and channel is considered flexible and subject to change throughout the campaign. If audience segments become saturated or show potential for further penetration, the budget may be shifted accordingly. Additionally, if channels are performing well or poorly, they may receive more or less budget, respectively.

The 2020 and 2022 budgets reflected a shift in emphasis to younger ADM in order to better reach and engage that priority segment. In 2024, the budget will do the same, and continue to allocate a fair percentage to motivated military members and overseas citizen voters for the Presidential Election.

2020 (Presidential) 2022 (Midterm) 2024 (Presidential)

Audience Spend % of Spend

Spend % of Spend

Spend % of Spend

ADM $455,000 65% $210,000 60%

$420,000

60%

Spouses $35,000 5% $17,500 5% $70,000 10%

Overseas Citizens

$210,000 30% $122,500 35% $210,000 30%

TOTAL $700,000 100% $350,000 100% $700,000 100%

Of the budget allocated to ADM in 2020, 80% targeted ages 18–24. It decreased in 2022 to 60% — with an additional percentage allocated through channels where age targeting cannot be specified — to ensure other audience segments would have enough budget to run and optimize throughout the year. In 2024, budget allocation will increase once again to 80% for

ADM 18-24.

In 2020, greater weight was placed on overseas citizens after a particularly engaging election season in 2016 in which those voters showed heightened interest and greater need for FVAP information and resources. Information from election offices suggests that overseas citizens need more information and help than ADM because of a lack of an assistance infrastructure compared to the military. Additionally, longer mail times necessitate overseas citizens to act earlier or find different methods for ballot transmission which calls for earlier messages. This year will continue that approach with the same portion going to the overseas citizen audience, including a subsegment of study abroad students to reach 18-24-year-old potential first time voters.

As spouses are both a primary audience of voters and strong influencers of voting behaviors in military households, a larger percentage of budget has been allocated to account for more premium placement options in niche publications for military

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spouses, which can be an effective approach for reaching them where they already are and where they’re already seeking out this type of information. Fifty percent of the budget allocation here will be weighted towards spouses aged 18-29, with an additional percentage allocated through channels where age targeting cannot be specified.

Budget Allocation by Campaign Flight and Key Messages

MESSAGES BY FLIGHT PHASE

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4

Register and request absentee ballot with the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA).

Register and request absentee ballot with the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA).

Register and request absentee ballot with the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA).

Vote and send it back as soon as it arrives.

Check your deadline at FVAP.gov. Register and request absentee ballot by August 1 (and check ballot request status).

Register and request absentee ballot by your state’s deadline (and check ballot request status).

Send in your ballot by recommended voting deadlines.

Subscribe for voting resources, deadline reminders, etc.

Subscribe for voting resources, deadline reminders, etc.

Subscribe for voting resources, deadline reminders, etc.

Use Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB) as backup ballot if necessary.

Download calendar alerts. Download calendar alerts. Download calendar alerts. Check that your ballot was received.

Budget Allocation:

20% ($140,000)

Budget Allocation:

30% ($210,000)

Budget Allocation:

30% ($210,000)

Budget Allocation:

20% ($140,000)