It’s an election year, which means the return of political advertisements. A lot of them.
“Parents need stable education choices for their children’s future, and for Alaska’s,” State House candidate Justin Ruffridge says in one ad. “We can do that together. Please vote Nov. 5. This communication was paid for by Justin Ruffridge.”
“Together, we can improve life on the Kenai Peninsula and protect your liberties,” says State Senate candidate Jesse Bjorkman in another. “I’ve got your back. Now I’m asking for your vote, so that I can keep getting the job done for you.”
According to campaign finance reports filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, six central peninsula candidates for state office spent a combined total of more than $145,000 on campaign advertising this election year. That includes money spent on creating and sharing radio and social media advertisements. It doesn’t include things like flyers or mailers.
While eight candidates ran for the three legislative seats that represent the central Kenai Peninsula, some spent tens of thousands on ads.
The race for Senate District D, which covers the northern half of the Kenai Peninsula, was by far the most expensive for advertising. Incumbent candidate Jesse Bjorkman spent more than $73,000 on radio advertising and ad content. His top challenger, Ben Carpenter, spent almost $30,000.
More than a quarter of Bjorkman’s advertising funds went to Martin Media for two campaign videos. Martin Media is a Soldotna-based videography company that created multiple familiar campaign ads this year. The company’s other clients include State House candidate Justin Ruffridge, who spent $15,000 on ads this year.
Josiah Martin is the company’s CEO and founder. He says political advertising starts with honing in on a candidate’s goal. Once that initial message is identified and put out, they later revisit specific campaign issues.
“What's the objective and message that we're trying to communicate to voters?” he said. “And so with that objective in mind, then we kind of go to the drawing board.”
One hallmark of Martin’s work is drone footage. He says drones are a useful tool for capturing the scale of Alaska’s landscape, which is frequently featured in his work. That includes political ads.
“A lot of times we're trying to get outside – outdoors in Alaska, we're having politicians memorize lines and walk towards the camera,” he said. “So that way it's just, it's a really engaging look. Instead of sitting down in a chair, it feels kind of dull.”
Some of those dynamic ads might be familiar.
“Gosh, with Justin – people have started to associate some of his campaign with the racecar ad,” he said.
The racecar ad. It’s a 20-second commercial that opens with a close up of a license plate on an orange sports car. Then it cuts to an aerial shot of the car zooming on a highway through trees while some of Ruffridge’s legislative accomplishments appear on the screen. Then it cuts to Ruffridge leaning against the car with his arms crossed.
“We’re just getting started,” Ruffridge says.
Martin says the car’s meant to send a message.
“Justin’s going to get in the office, and he’s going to get the job done,” he said. “So kind of associating speed and, yeah, just work ethic with that.”
Or how about the one of Bjorkman, who likes to hunt, clad in camo, carrying a rifle through the woods?
“That ad was really great because we connected the dots between having a compass when you are out in the wilderness to having a compass when you’re in the state legislature,” Martin said. “You need to know what your values are and where you’re headed, otherwise you’ll just be tossed to and from and not having a clear direction.”
By far the largest recipient of campaign dollars for advertising this year, though, was KSRM Radio Group. That’s the commercial radio group on Kalifornsky Beach Road near Kenai?. The six frontrunners for the central peninsula’s three legislative seats spent nearly $69,000 for air time on KSRM stations.
Of that, more than $51,000 came from Bjorkman and Carpenter. Another almost $10,000 came from Ruffridge and challenger Ron Gillham. The remaining $7,800 was spent by State House candidates Bill Elam and John Hillyer.
Matt Wilson is the company’s CEO, president and general manager. He says getting political ads on his radio station is a balancing act of maximizing the amount of time a candidate’s buying without overwhelming listeners with too much information.
“I try to – before they arrive – have them start putting together, usually, five things that are important to them,” Wilson said. “And so what are they trying to get across to the voter? And so we take those topics and then we work together on a script.”
Wilson says radio’s popular on the Kenai Peninsula. He thinks that’s partly because it's mobile. People listen in the car, on their phone, or, as in his case, on an actual radio. When it comes to political advertising, he says voters have an emotional response to hearing a candidate articulate their positions in their own words.
“It's almost like them going door to door, but we're giving them the ultimate opportunity to basically hit all these doors all at once by saying what you have to say in these messages,” he said.
And of course, local candidates aren’t the only ones advertising on the local airwaves. Wilson estimates the group pushing to keep ranked choice voting, No on 2, spent almost $100,000 on KSRM ads this election year.
Now that election season is over, Martin and Wilson are preparing to return to business as usual. For KSRM, that means ramping up holiday advertising. Martin says he’ll do more tourism and wedding videography.
And for everyone else, it means a lot less racecars and radio ads.
