November 22, 2024
Elections are moments in time that provide a snapshot of the American zeitgeist. At LSG, we have a responsibility as public affairs professionals to continuously track how key constituencies are evolving—both in their attitudes and their behaviors.
President-elect Donald Trump’s second successful campaign has provided a window into how Americans expect to be engaged by candidates and by campaigns. Now that the dust has cleared, our initial analysis of the election reveals several key challenges and opportunities for companies, industries, and issue-based organizations looking to shape upcoming policy and regulatory debates.
There is one clear theme that should inform all public affairs campaigns going forward: authenticity is king.
Just as former President Barack Obama’s 2008 election ushered in the online era of campaign fundraising and organizing, Trump’s 2024 election has ushered in the unfiltered era of media engagement and voter communication. And, in both cases, these innovative approaches activated minority, youth, and low-propensity voters to form a winning majority coalition.
The New Media Landscape
The decades-long decline in trust in large institutions like the corporate media, federal government, and Hollywood celebrities has finally collapsed the once-centralized nexus of narrative building and thought leadership. In its place, a decentralized network of independent podcasters and media outlets, anti-establishment coalitions across the political spectrum, and hyper-targeted, niche influencers are consistently outreaching and outperforming their 20th century counterparts.
Any campaign—especially a highly politicized, controversial one—must recognize that the better-funded, louder campaign will not resonate with enough voters if relegated to broadcast and cable TV and the largest, mainstream social media platforms.
While it was outspent nearly 2:1, the Trump campaign ran a guerilla-style ad campaign that focused primarily on three key states (Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania); overinvested in smaller, video and audio-centric online outlets like X/Twitter, Twitch, and YouTube rather than the Meta platforms and Google search; and spent $0 on celebrity endorsements.
This was mirrored in their ad buying strategy, which more heavily focused on connected TV and programmatic advertising, allowing them to more accurately target the less politically engaged populations who Trump could still inform and persuade with less pushback.
Trump took a bottom-up approach while Harris took a top-down one. Ask yourself, who had more undecided voters watching: 60 Minutes or The Joe Rogan Experience? Since only 5.7 million people watched Vice President Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes and nearly 50 million watched or listened to Trump on Rogan, it’s a no-brainer why Trump ignored CBS.
For public affairs professionals, the lesson is: go where the voters are, not where you’ve always gone. Trump knew exactly who he needed to persuade and where they were, so he built his campaign and media strategy around them.
Corporate IDENTITY Matters
Trump embraced populist policies and rhetoric, weaving them through an individual, economic lens. On tariffs, it’s about protecting and reshoring American jobs. On “no tax on tips,” it’s about helping the hourly wage class, not corporations. And on immigration, it’s that your wages will go up with less competition for unskilled jobs.
What was noticeably missing from 2024 Trump is him saying little about the strength of American corporations and industries. He praised farmers, not the agriculture industry; fast food workers, not fast food companies.
In the coming years, corporations should expect the unexpected. With public opinion towards large industry at historic lows, it is unwise to trust in the strength of brand awareness alone. Instead, it’s essential for corporations to proactively define their values, recruit and mobilize individual stakeholders, and align their business motives with Americans’ interests.
Focus on Message and Messengers, Not Demographics
Conventional wisdom for most of the 21st century has been that as America becomes more diverse and younger generations grow as a share of the electorate, the Democratic Party will grow stronger. Now, after several election cycles of results that tell a different story, it’s incumbent on public affairs professionals to recognize that gender, age, race, and ethnicity are merely a starting point for any strategic targeting. Underlying each of these characteristics are identities and personal priorities that are flexible, movable, and highly informed by economic and social circumstances.
According to AP’s VoteCast, four of the largest cohorts to support Trump more in 2024 than in previous elections were Latino men, non-college educated minority men, men under 30, and Black men. Simply put, there is a demand from the under-represented, less-educated, and most economically vulnerable groups of Americans for politics and public policy that are more receptive to their needs.
This demand extends to brands and products as well. LSG’s own research shows that communications, advertising, and public relations professionals recognize the demand for more diversity and inclusion in brand and company advertising and initiatives. This demand is rooted in the understanding that millions of Americans feel unseen and unheard but giving everyone a spotlight and a voice is only step one.
Public affairs campaigns must embrace who these voters are and how they consume information in our new, unfiltered media landscape. Recruiting and training genuine messengers and advocates will pay dividends, as they can move hearts and minds more effectively than the most polished, paid spokespeople. Leveraging non-traditional communications tools such as podcasts and livestreams is key, since the mostly unedited, free-flowing conversations allow a messenger’s authenticity to shine through.
As public affairs professionals, our responsibility is to listen, learn, adapt and evolve. The 2024 campaign marked a sea change in how we approach media, advertising, and corporate identity, and as always, winning campaigns and shaping public opinion means building credible, responsive, and representative coalitions.