Ad review: Domes, sparks and fences

Candidates wearing safety goggles as they tour factories. Politicians talking on the phone. Spooky shots of the Capitol dome.

Politicians talk about all the new things they want to do. But when it comes to campaign ads, groupthink rules: The techniques have worked in the past, and a candidate in the lead doesnt want to take any chances.

One reason these ads are often powerful is that using symbols can be an extremely effective way to make a point. So Matthew Dybwad of the firm CRAFT Media/Digital says that when a candidate wants to send a message about jobs, you can communicate a lot in a very small amount of time, in a factory sparks flying, people wearing hard-hats.

GOP admaker Casey Phillips, for instance, loves to have his candidate lean on fences. Larry Rhoden, a Phillips client who lost his GOP Senate primary in South Dakota, rests a fist on a wire-and-log fence as he closes an ad featuring him pointing at livestock: While this bull might be useful in South Dakota, weve had enough of Obamas bull around here.

(POLITICO's polling center)

Phillips says that the fence-leaning gives candidates a better body posture and makes them not look out of place in the frame. I am fully guilty of overusing fence posts in my ads, and Im proud of that.

POLITICO reviewed more than 100 political ads from this campaign season, and found these common threads:

Let the sparks fly!

Even though millions of voters have white collar jobs, scenes from office parks rarely appear in political ads. Instead, a candidate will more likely show up in a factory setting wearing a hard-hat and safety goggles.

(POLITICO's 2014 race ratings)

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Ad review: Domes, sparks and fences