Erik Fleming, Running in the Primary to Become the Democratic Nominee for a US Senate Seat in Mississippi
“Spot Runner was a godsend of savings. From what I had projected, which I thought was modest, it was considerably less.”
Erik Fleming entered the race to become the Democratic nominee for the US Senate with a solid reputation he built by serving in the Mississippi House of Representatives for over two terms.
In 2006, while serving in the Mississippi House of Representatives, Erik was also the Democratic nominee for the Senate, but Erik lost the election to a Republican incumbent with deep pockets. With the experience of running for the seat once before, Erik was aware of the challenges he would face in the primary.
[TV] raises your level of credibility and the level of optimism your supporters have.”
For his second campaign to be the Democratic nominee for the Senate, Erik's main focus was to raise public awareness of his political platform. He was looking for a way to communicate that dealing with the issues of poverty in Mississippi and building opportunities within the community, including raising wages and creating greater access to healthcare, were his biggest priorities. “I've only run for state office once before and I needed to make sure people knew who I was,“ Erik says.
Initially, Erik did not plan on advertising on TV during his race for the primaries in order to save for the possibility of running in the general election. In fact, Erik was concerned that his budget wouldn't cover an effective media buy for the general election.
After learning about Spot Runner, Erik realized that TV advertising was a possibility. “Spot Runner was a godsend of savings,” said Erik. “From what I had projected, which I thought was modest, it was considerably less.”
While Erik's opponent opted not to advertise on television, Erik turned to Spot Runner and allocated half of his budget to TV advertising. Erik ran a TV ad campaign during the week leading up to the primary election in four Mississippi broadcast markets that targeted the voters he needed to reach most.
Erik's primary campaign was a success, which he attributes to his TV advertising. “It puts you at a different level,” says Erik.
“It raises your level of credibility and the level of optimism your supporters have.”
“People who knew what I went through in '06 were glad to see I had a TV spot,” says Erik. “It made them more optimistic. People were very pleased with the quality, and one lady said how happy she was to see a positive spot.”
Erik is now gearing up for the general election as the Democratic nominee and is planning on using Spot Runner as he campaigns for the November election.