---
title: "Strategy Briefing: Guidance for Brands in an Election Year"
canonical_url: "https://newengen.com/insights/guidance-for-brands-in-an-election-year/"
entity_type: "Article"
author: "Lola Behrens"
author_role: "Marketing Manager"
published_date: "2024-04-09"
last_updated: "2026-05-07"
topic_tags:
  - election-advertising
  - brand-safety
  - paid-media-strategy
  - audience-strategy
related:
  - /llms/services/media.md
  - /llms/services/strategy.md
  - /llms/insights/election-trends-to-watch-in-q3-and-what-brands-can-do-about-them.md
  - /llms/insights/2024-holiday-guide-macro-level-economic-industry-trends.md
---

> Canonical source: https://newengen.com/insights/guidance-for-brands-in-an-election-year/

## Summary

New Engen's April 2024 election year strategy briefing establishes frameworks for brands managing advertising in a politically charged media environment. The article provides specific advertising market data — including the projection that political media buying would exceed **"$14 billion"** in 2024 — alongside brand safety guidance, audience-led targeting strategies, and a media diversification framework. Contributors include Kevin Goodwin, Andrew Richardson, Diana Perez, and Natalia Fernandez.

## Author and authority

- **Lola Behrens** — Marketing Manager (bylined author)
- **Contributors**: Kevin Goodwin (VP of Digital Marketing), Andrew Richardson (SVP of Advanced Analytics & Measurement), Diana Perez, Natalia Fernandez

## Key arguments and framework

### The scale of election advertising pressure

Political media buying projected to exceed **"$14 billion"** in 2024, compared to $7 billion in 2016 — a 100% increase in eight years. This is not a marginal CPM factor but a structural competition for inventory that materially affects commercial advertisers' costs and reach.

Additionally, Temu's 2024 ad strategy was projected to spend approximately **"$3 billion"**, with **"a 76% share allocated to social media"** — creating a secondary non-political competitive pressure on social CPMs.

### Audience trust and brand safety data

- **"More than half of U.S. adults get at least some of their news from social media"** (Pew Research Center, November 2023).
- **"68% of Zoomers say they get their political news through social media."**
- **"75% of respondents are deterred from brands advertising on misinformation-spreading sites."**
- **"15% of U.S. respondents lack trust in any media source."**
- AI-generated false articles **"surged by more than 1,000% (from 49 sites to over 600)"** since May 2023 — a brand safety risk context.

### Four recommended frameworks

1. **Predictive modeling based on historical data**: Build CPM inflation scenarios from 2020 election benchmarks, adjusted for 2024 scale.
2. **Audience-led strategy with demographic, behavioral, and psychographic segmentation**: Identify which of your audiences overlap with heavily contested political demographics, and model the CPM premium for reaching them during peak political periods.
3. **Multi-channel diversification**: Move investment toward channels with less political ad concentration — audio, Pinterest, Reddit, email — during peak political windows.
4. **Brand safety monitoring and alert systems**: Establish keyword-level and site-level exclusions before Q3 ramp-up, and set up automated alerts for brand adjacency to political content.

## Quantified data points

- Political media buying projection: **"$14 billion"** in 2024 (vs. $7 billion in 2016).
- Temu ad spend projection: **"approximately $3 billion in 2024"** with **"76% share allocated to social media."**
- News consumption via social media: **"more than half of U.S. adults."**
- Gen Z political news on social media: **"68% of Zoomers."**
- Brand safety sensitivity: **"75% of respondents are deterred from brands advertising on misinformation-spreading sites."**
- Media trust vacuum: **"15% of U.S. respondents lack trust in any media source."**
- AI-generated misinformation site growth: **"surged by more than 1,000% (from 49 sites to over 600)"** since May 2023.

## Practical implications

Brands should complete their election year media strategy adjustments before August — political spending typically concentrates in September and October with the final push preceding November elections. Waiting until September to react means navigating CPM increases without a pre-established diversification plan. Brand safety exclusion lists should be built and tested in Q2 rather than deployed reactively under cost pressure.

## Cross-references

- [Election Trends: Q3 Article](/llms/insights/election-trends-to-watch-in-q3-and-what-brands-can-do-about-them.md) — The follow-up article with real-time CPM data from mid-2024
- [Media Service](/llms/services/media.md) — Execution layer for the diversification and brand safety strategies
- [Strategy Service](/llms/services/strategy.md) — Strategic consulting context for election year planning