Navigating a Fractured Media Landscape with Hunter Schwarz of YELLO | Hello Merge Tag Ep. 17

“I’ve always been interested in how art and design plays in politics.”

If you know me, you know I’m a HUGE NERD for newsletters and email. Over the years, they’ve become one of the primary ways I get my news.

Along with reading those Republican candidate emails (so you don’t have to), I also read dozens of digital marketing newsletters. Literally.

And loads more about politics.

I’m kind of obsessed with the medium.

Of all of the many newsletters that I read, one of the most unique in my inbox, is called YELLO.

It’s run by today’s guest, Hunter Schawrz, and it bills itself as “a newsletter about politics, art, branding and design.”

I’ve heard Hunter describe it as a newsletter about what politics looks like.

And I love that.

It covers obvious political design topics, like logo choices and merch.

But it dives waaaaay deeper, breaking down how font choices affect audiences, how the federal government is approaching the internet in 2024, how campaigns stage their rallies and so much more.

In a world where the media continues to fracture, reaching voters online keeps on getting harder.

Hunter’s joined us to talk about what that means for campaigns, and what campaigns and brands can do to break through our fractured media environment.

We covered A TON of ground including:

• How Hunter got started on this beat
• The power of Hillary’s logos, as well a really interesting deep dive into campaign logos
• What serifs signify in regards to values (a lot!)
• How campaigns are adapting to this fracturization of the internet
• The current state of branding in a fractured internet
• The role of memes in campaigns
• The difference between how Trump and Biden are approaching the internet this cycle, including breaking down both of their rebrands
• The difference between Nixon’s 1960 campaign strategy and his 1968 campaign strategy and what we can learn from the different approaches (it’s soooo interesting!)
• How Trump has been leaning into his legal issues for his digital fundraising program
• How Trump has been ripping off Obama’s brand in numerous ways
• How RFK is approaching things
• How Hunter is growing his own newsletter
• The cautionary tale of a viral video that wasn’t seen by any of a campaign’s voters
• The role of AI in campaigns
• How to think about campaign branding, if you’re just getting started
• Recent ads that have stopped Hunter in his tracks
• How COVID changed the internet
• The value of lo-fi ads
• Convention branding and how this cycle is different from previous years
• His favorite campaign merch from history
• And so much more!

Here was a shocking and fascinating quote from Hunter:

“We saw a professional level of design for Nixon ’72 that I don’t think we saw again until Obama.”

🤯

Find all episodes at HelloMergeTag.com or wherever you stream podcasts.

Links and Resources

• YELLO Politics Substack
• YELLO’s Twitter
• My Republican Email coverage
• A blog post I wrote about all the many digital marketing newsletters I read
• Ben Platt’s The Voter (Netflix show)
• Axios story on how the media has splintered into 12 realities
• The Center for Campaign Innovation’s logo study
• Wide Eye (the firm that did branding for the DNC)
• Adwell Group (the firm that made that AI ad)

Big thanks to our sponsor Civic Shout. Learn more about how they’re helping Democratic campaigns and progressive nonprofits build their lists ethically at civicshout.com/partners.