Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, garnered a second place finish in the New Hampshire Republican primary on January 10th. While a number of factors contributed to Mr. Paul’s top-tier finish in the Granite State, American Research Group reports that the former Air Force surgeon’s “Big Dog” ad helped launch him into 2nd place in New Hampshire.
According to American Research Group, Mr. Paul’s “Big Dog” ad helped him surge 9 percentage points in New Hampshire. “The ad worked among its intended target – younger likely Republican primary voters dissatisfied with politics-as-usual,” American Research Group writes. However, American Research Group notes that Mr. Paul did not release an ad that “appealed to older voters.”
Other political pundits had a different view of Mr. Paul’s “Big Dog” ad, including Patrick Griffin, a Senior Fellow at The New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College. “This new ad proves one thing: different is good, silly is bad: Ron Paul is both. Woof!” Mr. Griffin wrote in The Granite Ear in December. “Paul is the cranky old uncle at Christmas who doesn’t have a hopeful or optimistic bone in his body, and whose main purpose at the holiday table is to spoil the rest of the family’s Yuletide feast,” Mr. Griffin added.
Mr. Paul’s “Big Dog” ad was launched in Iowa and New Hampshire on Monday, December 5th. The tv ad “contrasts establishment Republican candidates unwilling to make difficult choices on cuts and debt reduction with the sole candidate whose bite on such matters equals his bark: Ron Paul,” the Paul campaign wrote in a press release in December.
“What’s up with these sorry politicians,” the narrator in the “Big Dog” ad asks. “Lots of bark, but when it’s showtime, whimpering like little shih tzus.” “This ad is fun and energetic, yet the issues it focuses on are grave and weigh heavily on the minds of voters across America,” Ron Paul 2012 National Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton said in a press release last month.
Mr. Paul’s “Big Dog” ad fit perfectly into the sixth guideline on American Research Group’s “Ten Rules for More Effective Advertising,” which is “Does the ad use symbolic language and images that relate to the sense?”
While Mr. Paul’s “Big Dog” ad certainly was not the only factor that contributed to his success in New Hampshire, the design and content of the ad helped the Texas congressman win the support of younger voters in the Granite State.
