Mayoral candidates to roll out television ads
There are fewer than 20 days until Austin voters head to the polls to choose a mayor and four city council members. That means you can expect to see the airwaves heating up with campaign ads.
Tuesday afternoon, mayoral candidate Brewster McCracken gave some campaign supporters and the media a sneak peak of his soon-to-be-released TV ad.
“The ad’s message is positive and optimistic,” said Communications Director Colin Rowan. “The ad echoes the consistent vision and message McCracken has been promoting during the race.”
The ad, which hits the Internet Tuesday night, but won’t start running on TV until next week and runs through May 9, is a mix of accomplishments and vision.
“We want to show people he doesn’t want to survive. He wants to do something with this challenge; he wants to overcome it and maybe use it to Austin’s advantage,” said Rowan.
The ad was produced by Arts+Labor and shot by director of photography PJ Ravale, who recently shot the Academy Award nominated documentary “Trouble The Water.”
“Brewster’s message is an Austin message,” said Alan Berg, president of Arts+Labor and a faculty member at UT-Austin. “He believes Austin can emerge from this recession stronger than we were before, and our challenge was to tell a story in 30 seconds that captures his vision, optimism and leadership. I think we did it.”
Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s TV ads will start running Wednesday morning.
Her campaign coordinator, Mark Sanders, said that was always the strategy.
“We want to get people energized and enthused about the campaign and we want them to vote for Carole,” he said.
Her ads take on a more adversarial tone.
“It’s a truthful compare and contrast ad,” said Sanders “We’re talking about wasteful spending by her opponents and her pledge to get Austin moving again.”
Candidate Lee Leffingwell will be unveiling his TV commercial on his website on Thursday and expects them to be running on TV as soon as Friday.
“Lee will have ads on television, but he’s decided to put most of his resources into a grassroots approach. As much as possible, he wants to talk directly to voters at the neighborhood level,” said Mark Nathan, campaign consultant.
Early voting starts Monday, April 27. The election is Saturday, May 9.
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