Blog - WKQ Media

Digital Audio Ads: Reaching Audiences in a Noisy World

Posted on June 3, 2025 - 9:20 pm by Brianna Herrington

Smart Sound Strategies: Using Digital Audio to Drive Campaign Impact

Navigating the complexities of digital audio advertising in the political sphere has been a formidable challenge for our agency. Despite substantial budgets and the medium’s rising prominence, we encountered significant obstacles that necessitated a strategic pivot to alternative inventory types, ultimately salvaging our campaign objectives.

Challenges in Digital Audio Advertising

Our initial foray into digital audio was met with limited inventory availability. The scarcity of ad slots, coupled with intense competition, made it difficult to secure placements that aligned with our campaign timelines. Additionally, the lack of standardized measurement tools in digital audio hindered our ability to assess return on investment effectively.

Strategic Pivot to Alternative Channels

Recognizing these challenges, we redirected our focus to more accessible and measurable advertising channels:

Programmatic Advertising: We leveraged programmatic platforms to automate media buying across various digital channels, enhancing efficiency and targeting precision. This approach allowed us to reach specific voter demographics with tailored messages, optimizing our ad spend.

Social Media Campaigns: Utilizing platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, we engaged with voters through interactive content and targeted ads. The robust analytics provided by these platforms enabled real-time performance tracking and campaign adjustments.

Display and Native Advertising: We invested in display and native ads across high-traffic websites frequented by our target audience. This strategy ensured visibility and reinforced our campaign messages through consistent online presence.

Here’s What Changed

By diversifying our advertising strategy, we achieved:

Improved Reach and Engagement: The shift allowed us to connect with a broader audience, increasing voter engagement through multiple touchpoints.

Enhanced Measurability: The alternative channels offered robust analytics, facilitating data-driven decisions and precise campaign optimization.

Cost Efficiency: Diversifying our ad spend across various platforms mitigated the high costs associated with scarce digital audio inventory, ensuring a more efficient allocation of resources.

Our agency’s ability to adapt to the challenges in digital audio advertising by pivoting to alternative inventory types was instrumental in achieving our campaign goals. This experience underscores the importance of flexibility and innovation in navigating the evolving landscape of political digital marketing.

CTV Unlocked: Reaching Voters Where They Are

Posted on May 5, 2025 - 2:51 pm by WKQ Media

Innovative Advertising: Leveraging Connected TV (CTV) to Prioritize Our Client’s Campaigns

In the rapidly evolving world of digital marketing, Connected TV (CTV) has emerged as an invaluable tool for reaching engaged audiences. At our agency, we saw CTV not as an oversaturated market but as a promising, underutilized space where we could prioritize our client’s needs, securing impactful placements and building long-term value.

Why CTV?

CTV provides advertisers the opportunity to deliver targeted, high-quality ads directly to viewers through streaming platforms and smart TVs. With its expanding reach and the growing number of households using smart TVs, CTV offers access to a prime audience—without the saturation that often plagues other digital channels. Whether viewers are watching on their big glass screen at home or engaging with content through streaming services, CTV gives us the ability to reach them wherever they’re consuming TV content, in a more layered and strategic way.

Voters don’t know whether they’re on a FAST app, broadcast linear, or cable. We can reach them wherever they watch TV, and CTV enables us to do this across multiple layers and platforms, ensuring a seamless and comprehensive approach to targeting.

Rather than competing in a crowded space, we saw CTV as a market full of untapped potential for impactful, strategic advertising. The key to success in this area is ensuring our clients’ messages are consistently reaching the right people with the right level of exposure. That’s why we turned to programmatic guaranteed deals and Private Marketplace (PMP) deals to lock in premium placements and maximize both reach and frequency.

Programmatic Guaranteed Deals & PMPs: Securing Reach & Frequency

To ensure our client’s campaigns were delivered at the optimal cadence, we utilized programmatic guaranteed deals and PMPs. These agreements allowed us to secure highly targeted ad placements on major streaming platforms like Roku, Paramount, and Hulu. Our goal with these deals was to ensure that the right people saw our client’s message at the right frequency, delivering consistent visibility without oversaturation.

By locking in premium placements on these platforms, we could guarantee exposure to key audiences while controlling frequency to avoid overwhelming viewers. This strategic approach helped us strike the perfect balance between reach and repetition, ensuring our client’s message landed with the audience in a meaningful and impactful way. The result? A more effective advertising campaign that resonates without drowning in the clutter of linear and traditional ad formats.

Expanding Our Client’s Reach: Billboards & Gas Station TV Screens

Taking things further, we combined CTV placements with other out-of-home (OOH) strategies like digital billboards and gas station TV screens, integrating these into the larger media mix. This expanded the campaign’s reach, ensuring that the message was delivered in both digital environments and high-traffic physical locations, reinforcing brand visibility across diverse platforms.

Digital billboards and gas station screens allowed us to target commuters and drivers, extending the campaign beyond the home and into real-world settings. This omnichannel approach provided additional opportunities to keep the message top-of-mind, while reinforcing key points in environments where people are more likely to be receptive to external media—whether they are consuming content through CTV or more traditional linear ads.

The Impact of CTV for Our Clients

The result? A more effective and holistic advertising strategy that reached a wide range of engaged consumers. By focusing on a less saturated market like CTV, and strategically investing in programmatic guaranteed deals and PMPs, we ensured that our client’s message reached their target audience at just the right frequency and at the perfect moment. This helped prevent ad fatigue while maximizing the impact of every interaction.

Further bolstered by OOH tactics like billboards and gas station TV screens, this integrated approach allowed us to significantly amplify our client’s reach, keeping their messaging consistent and highly visible across multiple touchpoints. With CTV continuing to grow, advertisers have the opportunity to break free from the noise of linear TV and traditional digital ad spaces, making each campaign more personalized and impactful.

Connected TV offers a powerful advertising solution, particularly for clients looking to break through the noise of more crowded digital channels. By utilizing programmatic guaranteed deals, PMPs, and integrating OOH placements, we were able to prioritize our client’s campaign in a market that’s still ripe for exploration. As CTV continues to grow and evolve, staying ahead of the curve with strategic deals and placements will ensure we’re delivering maximum value to our clients, all while maintaining the right balance of reach and frequency. With big glass screens becoming more central to home viewing, now is the time to prioritize CTV in the media mix.

Veteran digital campaign strategist Bill Redding launches WKQ Media

Posted on September 19, 2024 - 10:17 am by admin_wkq

Digital ad buying agency launches with extensive knowledge of the latest trends in digital campaign strategy and advertising technology to help progressive and pro-worker digital content creators cut through the noise and meet target audiences where they are.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the lead up to the 2024 elections, veteran digital campaign strategist Bill Redding announced the launch of WKQ Media. Leveraging Redding’s more than two decades of experience in digital media and political organizing, the new digital ad buying agency designs customized media plans and executes cross platform digital advertising campaigns for Democratic and progressive media agencies and organizations across the country. WKQ’s team of digital media experts collaborate with advertising partners to map the complex and crowded digital advertising landscape to ensure their content reaches and resonates with its intended audience.

Specializing in video-first campaigns — including OTT (over-the-top), CTV (connected TV), Addressable Cable, AVO (advertising-based video on demand), SVOD (subscription video on demand), and TVOD (transactional video on demand) — WKQ Media’s expertise spans the full spectrum of advertising delivery technologies.

“The digital advertising landscape continues to shift dramatically year after year. To win elections and achieve other organizational goals, it’s important for progressive and pro-worker creative advertising agencies and organizations to stay ahead of the trends, harness the power of data, and embrace new and emerging technologies,” said WKQ Media Founder Bill Redding. “Through our data-driven approach, we work to boost audience persuasion and engagement, achieving desired outcomes by crafting expert, data-informed digital media plans.”

With more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of traditional and digital media, Redding has run successful advocacy, union organizing, and political persuasion campaigns for labor unions, national non-profit organizations, and candidates up and down the ballot.

“With Bill’s help over the past decade, we have been able to effectively communicate with both our members and other older Americans,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, a grassroots advocacy organization with 4.4 million members across the country. “Retirees are active and engaged but one size does not fit all. Bill has helped us tailor and execute plans to meet seniors where they are and deliver information about issues that affect their lives.”

A resource for reporters:
In addition to working with clients, Redding and WKQ Media will serve as a source and a resource for reporters seeking to deepen their knowledge of the paid digital media and advertising industry and the application of digital strategy and tactics in campaigns and elections.

“With the 2024 elections fast approaching, reporters covering political campaigns, digital marketing, and technology need to stay on top of the latest trends in a constantly evolving digital advertising landscape,” said Grace Briscoe, SVP of Client Development at Basis Technologies. “Bill and WKQ media have the expertise and road-tested experience to help journalists navigate this chaotic and faced-paced environment.”

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WKQ Media are digital media buyers. We work with you and your clients to design and deliver effective, data-driven digital media plans.

How the 2024 Election is Redefining Media Buying in Political Campaigns

Posted on April 19, 2024 - 10:28 am by admin_wkq

As we steadily march towards the 2024 election season, we’re not just moving into another election year; we’re stepping into a realm of revolutionary change in the world of media buying for political campaigns. The landscape we once knew is undergoing a seismic shift, propelled by rapid technological advancements and a dynamic shift in consumer behaviors and preferences. In this era of constant digital evolution, the lines between digital and traditional media are not just blurring; they are being redrawn.

This year, we’re not just observers of change; we’re participants in a transformation that’s rewriting the rulebook on how political campaigns connect with voters. As experts and innovators in the field, we’re excited to share our insights and predictions on the major trends that will define media buying in 2024:

Digital-First, But Not Digital-Only Strategies: The rise of digital media is undeniable, but 2024 will highlight a more nuanced approach. Expect to see campaigns adopting a digital-first strategy, yet skillfully integrating traditional media for a comprehensive reach.
Hyper-Personalized Voter Engagement: With advancements in AI and data analytics, campaigns will be able to deliver hyper-personalized content, targeting voters with precision accuracy, based on their behaviors, preferences, and even sentiment.
The Emergence of New Media Platforms: Beyond the usual suspects, new media platforms are set to emerge, offering innovative ways to reach and engage with younger, more technologically savvy voters.
The Power of Video Content: Video content, especially short-form, will dominate, driven by its proven effectiveness in capturing attention and conveying messages in a compelling and digestible format.
Mobile Optimization as a Necessity: In a world where smartphones are ubiquitous, optimizing content for mobile devices will no longer be optional. Campaigns will need to ensure that all digital content is mobile-friendly.
The Integration of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR): These technologies will start moving from the fringes to the forefront, offering immersive experiences that could revolutionize campaign storytelling and voter engagement.
Greater Emphasis on Analytics and ROI: Data won’t just inform strategies; it will drive them. Campaigns will place a greater emphasis on analytics and ROI, ensuring that every dollar spent is an investment towards a more engaged and motivated voter base.
Ethical Considerations and Transparency in Data Use: As data becomes more central to campaign strategies, ethical use of this data and transparency with voters about how their information is being used will become critical.
Real-Time Adaptation and Responsive Campaigns: The ability to adapt and respond in real-time to changing voter sentiments and news cycles will be crucial. Campaigns will need to be agile, adjusting strategies swiftly to stay relevant and effective.

As we plan for the 2024 election, it’s essential to understand that we are not just adapting to changes; we are at the forefront of a new era in political campaigning. By embracing these trends and harnessing their potential, political campaigns can create a more engaged, informed, and motivated electorate, leading to a healthier, more vibrant democratic process.