Web Start-Up Offers Canned Campaign Ads

Bargain-Priced, Pre-Made Clips Help Low-Budget Candidates Get Face Time on TV

Television campaign ads sometimes seem as if they are written from the same script.

Cue a piano melody, add patriotic children and pop in a soothing yet authoritative voice-over hyping the accomplishments of (insert candidate's name) and a dream for a better (insert city or state).

And that's just fine by Stephen Ortego of Louisiana and Bob Briggs of Colorado.

Though they ran for different offices -- Ortego for state representative, Briggs for city council -- on unrelated political platforms more than 1,000 miles apart, the two candidates aired remarkably similar ads during their campaigns for November's election. Their television spots featured the same grinning kids, narrator and music. They even ended on slogans that differed by just one word.

Rather than create an ad from scratch, Ortego and Briggs were among a dozen candidates across the country -- including two in Northern Virginia -- who used commercial templates produced by Spot Runner, an Internet start-up in Los Angeles. For $499 plus the cost of airtime, Spot Runner will plug your photo and personalized narration into a generic ad and air it on television in about a week. By comparison, traditional ad agencies can charge thousands of dollars, and the creative process can take months.

Candidates have had mixed results. Last week in Virginia, Republican Del. Robert G. Marshall (Prince William) won reelection. Democrat Phyllis Randall lost in her run for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

But it was worth a try, considering the price, Randall said.

"We didn't have a whole lot of money since I spent so much time door-knocking and didn't do much fundraising," said Randall, who raised $20,000 to $25,000 for her campaign.

Spot Runner's political-ad division, which launched this year, is a small part of the online agency's "ready-to-air" ad business. A handful of young Web companies -- Spotzer, Pick-n-Click Ads, Cheap TV Spots -- offer similar template ad services to car dealerships, jewelers, fitness clubs and other businesses that don't have big advertising budgets.

The ads aren't for those looking to be unique. Templates are created mainly from stock footage and file photos, which eliminate the high costs of camera crews and filming.

Spot Runner promises clients that their ads will run exclusively in a given market to ensure that viewers don't see the others using the template.

The company's co-founders dreamed up the political-ad concept while working on Sen. John F. Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. Now there are 15 political-ad choices. Templates include an ad slamming an opponent for cutting education funding and an ad that likens a candidate's leadership abilities to those of Abraham Lincoln.

The low-cost commercials could make it possible for local candidates to reach voters over the airwaves. Typically, local candidates buy time during shows on cable networks, minimizing the expense.

Christopher C. Hull, adjunct assistant professor in Georgetown University's government department, said television ads at the national level have long proven to be an effective way to help candidates build name and face recognition.

"Television is still one of the broadest ways of reaching Americans," Hull said.

Just two days after Marshall began airing his ad in western Prince William and Loudoun County, he said people started taking notice.

"I was in Costco walking down the aisle to get some maps," he said. "A guy stopped me and said: 'You're Delegate Marshall. I saw your ad.' "

It was a nice surprise to see his ad while watching the History Channel and CNN at night, Marshall said.

"My kid was saying: 'Gosh, this is a real campaign. My dad's on TV.' "