How a Political Consultancy Increased Candidates' Favorability Score by 192%

Erik Robey, President at Insider Management Group LLC, has been in the political consulting business for over 22 years, running his office in the heart of the action, just outside of Washington, DC. He has an extensive background in state and local government and political consulting, having managed over 150 campaigns in the last 8 election cycles.

Across campaign types, Erik and his team have leveraged direct mail, SMS, robocalls, in-person canvassing, and broadcast TV for years, but this was their first time working with Streaming TV advertising. 

WHY CTV?

After years spending thousands of dollars on cable TV campaigns with dubious returns, Erik and his team decided to give Vibe a chance to take full advantage of real-time optimization and premium TV inventory. They started with an affordable daily spend to gather early performance data and increased it as their campaigns progressed. 

"Vibe was a great opportunity for our candidates to get on TV without having to spend 80% of their budget buying cable TV ads from major stations. Vibe certainly allows them to get on premium channels and spend a fraction of that price."

More than most, political campaigns need the flexibility to seize on new soundbytes, voter data, or talking points from the opposition in real-time, not to mention the need to accommodate campaigns across the political spectrum, from non-partisan judicial races to local governance issues, to high-level elected positions. Each type of campaign needs different targeting, tracking, and spend capabilities, which Vibe has built in. 

Most of the candidates in Mr Robey’s roster for this cycle already had a fair amount of name recognition in certain circles, but the main aim of their Streaming TV campaigns was two-fold:

TV’s turn to digital delivery hasn’t taken away from its power, as it remains the most trusted and engaging medium for video consumption, by far. It’s also a storytelling medium par excellence, which helped Mr Robey’s team craft compelling candidate stories without running afoul of strict FCC guidelines. 

"The top goal of this campaign was to really cement their image, and TV enabled that."

Traditional cable TV advertising forces political campaigns to buy across broad regions, wasting spend on voters outside key districts. On Vibe’s platform Mr Robey’s team was able to target ads by ZIP code, ensuring messages reach only eligible voters. For a judicial race, this meant every ad dollar was spent efficiently—delivering directly to the intended electorate.

"The platform is fantastic. There is simply no way we ever could have targeted our electorate as precisely on cable."

Beyond geography, they leveraged Vibe’s targeting capabilities to refine their audience by political affiliation, income, and profession. For example, a mass-market ad ran across all available channels, while a tailored Republican-focused message aired on high-index conservative networks like Fox News, NewsNation, and the History Channel. In a nonpartisan race, this strategy signaled party alignment without explicit endorsement, subtly guiding voter perception.

By partnering with a well-seasoned, local videographer with a very specific brief, the campaign produced a high-quality ad for under $4,000. Understanding the need to capture attention within seconds, the creative team leaned into a viral nickname—“The Hammer Judge”—to reinforce the candidate’s tough-on-crime stance while staying within judicial election constraints. A well-placed opponent’s misstep further amplified the message.

Ultimately, Vibe supported Mr Robey’s surgical approach to political advertising—maximizing relevance, minimizing waste, and ensuring the right message reached the right voters at the right time.

A data-driven approach delivered decisive wins for campaigns across the board: two out of three judicial candidates secured victory, while daily household reach climbed steadily throughout the campaign, reinforcing Vibe’s effectiveness in audience engagement.

"I can tell you that we wanted big household numbers – that was my big concern –  and we continued to see them climb every day of the campaign."

With a cost of just $0.02 per ad impression, all three campaigns were able to report stellar ROI. In contrast, an opponent spent $60,000 on digital advertising with another provider and saw no meaningful shift in polling. In fact, initial projections had Mr Robey’s candidate trailing by 12 points; by Election Day, they led by 9 points among Democrats and 11 points among Republicans—an overall swing of 23 points!

Frequent polling confirmed that traditional digital tactics—Google ads and local newspaper placements—failed to significantly move the needle. Vibe’s precision targeting and seamless campaign integration proved to be the difference-maker.

"Vibe was easy to use, very inexpensive, and certainly was a great vehicle to deliver a message. When you combine that with everything else your campaign's doing, we found it to be a really great fit."