Madison's Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, facing a cakewalk to reelection, today released his first online campaign video (available below). The 90-second spot, entitled "Mayor Dave for Mayor: Part I," has the mayor going on about his childhood in West Allis -- then "a bustling industrial town," now a mostly decaying industrial wasteland.
Cieslewicz, in the video, insinuates that these humble beginnings formed his core principles. No, not Satan worship and drunken revelry, but an appreciation for the struggles of ordinary working people.
"I went to schools with the kids of factory workers, mostly," he relates, as still photos of Allis-Chalmers and his parents and siblings flash by.
Cieslewicz's dad was a metal worker -- was on the road with AC/DC for a spell, then returned to the factory -- and his mom was a homemaker, making untold numbers of homes.
"Web videos are an innovative way to share our story with Madison voters," says Cieslewicz. "We are always looking for new and creative ways to provide information to voters. With these videos, we are not limited to the traditional 30-second and one-minute commercial spots that are typically associated with television ad buys."
No, with ads like these, it's possible to bore people for a full minute and a half.
The ad, and others to follow, was produced by Brad Lystra, a UW-Madison graduate student studying political communications and technology.
