New Aggressive Ad Campaign From Obama Camp Possible for Olympics -

Obama Asks NBC to Draw Up Olympics Ad Packages
But Could Such a Media Buy Be Too Much, Too Soon?

By Ira Teinowitz

Published: June 19, 2008

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- Those tuning in to NBC Sports' Olympics coverage this year will see spots from General Motors, McDonald's, Budweiser, Nike and -- just maybe -- Sen. Barack Obama.

Barack Obama
Photo Credit: AP


Though the Obama campaign is keeping mum about whether it will definitely run spots, it has asked NBC Universal about Olympics advertising including $500,000, $2 million and $4 million packages of ads. (NBC presented those along with a $10 million package.) It's not only a sign that the Obama camp has faith it can continue its stellar fundraising achievements but a signal that a widening field of battleground states has the candidate contemplating national broadcast buys. An Olympics buy could also allow Mr. Obama to reach out to a large swath of women.

Exploring options
"Obviously our buyers, when contemplating the election, look at a variety of options," said Jim Margolis, the GMMB partner who co-chairs the Obama advertising team. "You will probably see us looking at lots of things. There is a big difference between looking and buying."

There's also a big difference between Team Obama and Team McCain. Sen. John McCain's campaign has inquired about Olympics rates but hasn't asked for specific packages. Besides, with the Republican candidate lagging far behind in fundraising, such buys would take a huge chunk out of his budget before the conventions.

NBC will air 3,600 hours of Olympics coverage on NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, Oxygen and Telemundo. All the packages presented to the Obama campaign include time on both NBC and cable. No presidential candidate has done any significant buying of network TV ad time since Bob Dole ran in 1996. The only political ads that have aired on any broadcast network in this campaign were two from Rudy Giuliani in consecutive weeks on "Fox News Sunday."