How to Not Screw Up Your 2024 Campaign Song: A Primer
Politico
Curb your Gen Z staffer
Delegating music choices to the youngest person on your campaign team might seem like a good idea. It’s not. Ignore the Billboard Hot 100, and pick songs you actually listen to — or at least songs that voters will believe you actually listen to. “Your first instinct might be, pick a song that’s relatable to young people or something. But that’ll just miss the mark and it’ll feel inauthentic,” says Rachel Kopilow, vice president and creative director at the campaign consultancy group Blue State.
Align your soundtrack with your message
This is Political Campaigning 101. “A particular song is not as important as, what does that song represent relative to the overall brand?” says Bonnie Siegel, founder of PoliticalBranding Associates.
Don’t use music by artists who hate you
Earlier this year, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s use of the instrumental version of a Dr. Dre track in a promo video earned her a cease-and-desist letter by the rapper, who called her “divisive and hateful.” She clapped back: “While I appreciate the creative chord progression, I would never play your words of violence against women and police officers, and your glorification of the thug life and drugs.”
TikTok is your playground
The life cycle on social media content is shorter than the classic TV ad that plays for weeks, so there’s an opportunity to take risks and show voters your fun (?) side. “Play up trends and be a little more cheeky, a little more fun, a little more sassy,” David says. When he was running for Congress, Democrat Maxwell Frost — the first Gen Zer to make it to the House — took to TikTok to post a video of himself jamming to salsa during a Pride parade.