POL311
Legislative Process
Dr. Sellers
February 6, 2008

Campaign Advertisements

The next stage of your campaign is creating a thirty-second campaign advertisement. This process involves four steps. First, your campaign needs to decide what type of ad(s) to produce. Second, you need to produce a script and story boards for the ad. Third, you need to film the video for the ad. Finally, you need to edit the video and add any special effects, to end up with a thirty-second advertisement.

For this stage of the simulation, each campaign can produce one or two ads. If the campaign produces one ad, all members of the campaign will work together on the ad and receive an evaluation of that ad. If the campaign decides to produce two ads, the campaign can split into two subgroups. Each subgroup will produce an ad and receive an evaluation of that ad. In choosing between the approaches, you need to think about which one would best serve the interests of your campaign.

When producing your ad, make sure that you use the information and insights from the sessions with Kristen Eshleman. As you choose the types of ads and their content, the assigned readings can provide guidance about the strengths and weaknesses of different message strategies. Make sure that the ads fit into your overall strategy for the campaign.

My evaluation of each ad will cover the ad’s content (both visual and audio) and how well that content fits the campaign’s overall strategy and counters the opposing campaign’s strategy. The assigned readings suggest numerous ways to improve both these aspects of the ads. When you turn in your ad, I encourage you to include a one-page summary of how your ad follows the recommendations in the assigned readings. Such a summary will help me see the strengths of your ad.

By the start of class on February 11, you need to turn in the ad to Kristen Eshleman of the ITG (the summary, if you do one, will go to Dr. Sellers). Assignments turned in 10 minutes or more after the start of class will receive a late penalty.  The penalty is ten points (out of 100 total points) for each 24-hour period (after the start of class) that the assignment is late. The summary should be typed, with 1-inch margins and a font no smaller than 10 point.  The summary can be either single- or double-spaced.  Finally, the Honor Code covers this assignment; make sure that you pledge your work.