US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, questions bank CEOs as they testify during a ... [+]
Elizabeth Warren's announcement to run for reelection comes on the heels of multiple high-profile bank collapses, and that’s not a coincidence.
The Democratic senator from Massachusetts has spoken about holding big banks more accountable for years, and as the issue has moved front and center in the last couple of weeks, so has Warren. Regular cable media appearances and op-eds have been building momentum, making the timing right for a major announcement.
Warren first won election in 2012, defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown. In 2018, she won reelection to a second term by a large margin before making an unsuccessful bid for president in 2020. Currently, it's unclear who might challenge Warren for her seat, but even uncontested, her announcement has already drawn national attention.
The video was produced by left-leaning political consulting firm Blue State, which rose to prominence after helping the Obama campaign connect with and activate an online audience in 2008. The group also worked on Warren's 2020 presidential run.
Rachel Kopilow, vice president of strategic communications and creative at Blue State, has been making videos for Warren since 2017. She said this time around, though, the starting point for the campaign was different. Whereas most launch videos exist to introduce a candidate to voters, Elizabeth Warren is well known nationally, even more so in her home state.
This announcement, therefore, was more about drumming up excitement and energy around the campaign—and around Warren. "She just has this boundless energy," said Kopilow. "You see it in the town halls and in the famous selfie lines. Capturing that was definitely a primary goal."
It was almost a year ago that Warren confirmed she'd run again, and there's still more than a year until the 2024 elections. The formal campaign announcement could have come at any time. Before even officially announcing, Warren already had significant funding at her disposal, with more than $2.3 million in her campaign account at the end of 2022, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Still, if there was a time to do it, strategically speaking, it's now.
Digital communications and social media strategist Annie Wu Henry, well known in political circles for her work as star social media producer for Sen. John Fetterman's high-profile 2022 campaign, took notice of Warren's announcement immediately.
"The video was fantastic and exciting," said Henry. "It was very bold and quick in a way that was very engaging, but still really human and just clearly very smart—which is no surprise when it comes to Sen. Warren."
The energy Kopilow’s team was going for, which didn’t go unnoticed by Henry, is hard to miss. It comes through in Le Tigre's uptempo song "Deceptacon" playing in the background, in Sen. Markey's explicit characterization of Warren as a "perpetual energy machine" and in the succession of clips of Warren sprinting through parade routes and high-fiving lines of supporters at past campaign events. It keeps a viewer's attention—something that's increasingly hard to do in today's online world—and it's a smart move for a woman who's in her 70s announcing a campaign launch.
Multiple articles have already centered Warren's age alongside the news of her announcement to run. A piece from Fox News includes her age in the headline, the subhead and again in the second sentence of the article.
"The critique on aging and that entire conversation hits harder on women—as most things do," said Henry. "We look at Chuck Grassley, who is more than 15 years older than her and just got elected to another six-year term. Did we see as many headlines and discussions around aging then?"
A campaign launch often marks the beginning and the end of a candidate's real control over their own narrative. Some campaigns see that narrow window as an opportunity to get out ahead of potential obstacles, and the video certainly aims to make clear that age isn't one for Warren.
The ad also does what many campaign launch videos don't: get into real policy debates. "I first ran for Senate because I saw how the system is rigged for the rich and powerful and against everyone else,” Warren said in the video. “I won because Massachusetts voters know it, too. And now I'm running for Senate again because there's a lot more we've got to do.”
The things she's still got on her agenda? Pass a wealth tax. Make childcare affordable. Protect coastal communities from climate emergencies. Build a better transportation system across Massachusetts and put stricter rules on banks.
The two especially share-worthy soundbites within the video—Sen. Markey's comment about Elizabeth Warren succeeding at making billionaires cry and the can't-be-missed expletive just 15 seconds in signals the campaign has been paying attention to Henry and others like her who are bringing authenticity and sincere fun to the forefront of digital campaigning.
If they'd asked for her opinion, though, she'd have told them to include Warren's golden retriever in the video. "I will say that there was no Bailey," said Henry. "That's one thing I would add, but I think it was fantastic and exciting."
