The truth about election spending

by Psyche Roxas Mendoza – April 19, 2016, http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/the-truth-about-election-spending-2/

Second of three parts

Not many know about it, but that sleek and confident paid political advertisement—openly endorsing a senatorial, vice-presidential, or presidential hopeful on prime- time television—is the finishing touch to what political operators call the “overt side” of an election propaganda strategy.

Few candidates can afford the production and placement of these 30-second to 60-second paid ads that present a candidate as the “people’s choice” at the national level, in a medium that captures as many as 55-percent viewership during prime-time hours (6 to 11 p.m. on weekdays and 8 to 11 p.m. on weekends).
Linda (not her real name) makes these observations, adding, however, that in today’s available technology, candidates with more resources can tweak these ads, depending on initial public reaction. A candidate or political party with humongous resources can come out with three or more TV ads for the duration of the election campaign season.

It is Tuesday afternoon, in a restaurant in Quezon City, and this bronze goddess of a small but
productive media-placement agency is in her elements. In her mid-30s, she is an old hand in the business of Philippine elections.

“I started in 2007 and continued to be active in 2010, 2013, and now 2016. A total of four elections—all national level.”

Big placement agencies

Linda adds, however, that when it comes to the top 3 candidates for president, at least, they tend to prefer big placement agencies or ad agencies with placement capability.

“Itong mga pulitiko na ito, tuso na [These politicians have wised up]. The big three go to big agencies because they can give their clients special rates and more discounts. So, only a small percentage, about 30 percent, of the total number of election candidates at the national level go to small placement agencies,” she said.

She adds that there is a standard procedure for placing ads. “It’s easy to place political ads on television or radio, if you have the money. Still, it’s mostly a discretion of the network. When you submit an ad to a television network, for example, it is screened by the station’s ethics committee. And then you have to fill out all kinds of forms, like the Customer Maintenance Form, which is standard procedure for all placement agencies. And then there is the tax form, and you also have to fill out and sign the form that discloses where the funds for the ad you are placing came from.”

Linda said that in the last elections, there was a limit to the total number of minutes in the television, radio and print ads a candidate can use for his or her campaign. This is no longer true for the 2016 elections.

“If you have the money, you just go ahead,” she said.

Even with limitations in the number of ad minutes, some candidates in the 2010 elections still managed to hit the billion- peso mark in ad-placement expense. “The commission for an ad placement is 15 percent. That 2010 presidential candidate utilized only a single placement agency all throughout his campaign. So, at 15 percent, that ad agency easily grossed P150 million for that single candidate.”

Linda observed, however, that only television and radio made a killing in the 2016 elections. “Halos walang [There are almost no] political ads for print.”

Cost of a 30-second advertisement placed in a prime-time television program can range from P204,974 for early-morning shows to a high of P925,710.50 for ads placed in top teleserye dramas. The ad rate card in another TV station charges P500,000 for a 30-second spot.

Payment is made before airing and the check is issued at once.

Advocacy ads

Linda said a candidate with considerable resources can start placing TV advertisements even before the actual campaign period. “We call that ‘advocacy ads,’ where the would-be candidate talks about energy conservation or tree planting or a similar concern.”

She added that some candidates did it on the last quarter of 2015. So the planning for this advocacy ads begins in July and September. They then approach the ad agencies or placement agencies to come up with a media plan.

“During the pre-election campaign, the candidate and his political team begins their pre-election campaign with advocacy ads. This is mainly because the Comelec has a ruling that bans early campaigning. So we call it advocacy. It still does not contain the announcement: vote for.”

The Comelec rules that the campaign period for candidates begins from February 9, 2016 to May 7, 2016 for president, vice president, senator, and party-list groups participating in the party-list system.

Those running for local elective positions have their campaign period beginning March 25, 2016, and ending on May 7, 2016.

To be continued