The Kifowit for Illinois Comptroller campaign launched its first digital advertising campaign today, with the 30-second spot running on digital platforms throughout Illinois.
The ad introduces voters to Stephanie Kifowit, who is not the typical Comptroller candidate. It highlights her more than 20 years of public finance experience, her service in the United States Marine Corps, and her record of standing up for Illinois residents.The spot highlights Kifowit’s independence and her willingness to take on the political machine to deliver accountability and results.
This ad makes a clear case in the race for Comptroller: Kifowit brings courage, experience, toughness, and proven leadership needed to protect taxpayers and provide real oversight of state finances, positioning her as the only candidate prepared to step into the role on day one and ready to take on Donald Trump as Illinois next Comptroller. This race is about who we can trust to protect taxpayers money, hold the powerful accountable and stand up for workers and families when it matters the most, and that person is Stephanie Kifowit.
I like the concept and it’s unique but like Tom said, they don’t mention it at all, nor do we hear from Kifowit for even one second. Seems like a half-baked idea that sounded cool but never got fleshed out.
Love the ad - Kifowit is a Marine veteran and has moderate views - I’ve spoken to her many times at advocacy events. Don’t like the hypocrisy of the “bad actors” bit with the MJM image - when her campaign ( along with many others) took over 700K from his committees.
I like it. It is unique. It certainly pushes her veteran status the most. She needs to also push her finance background regarding the years she spent working on state budgets. i give it a B+
One of those commercials where I cynically think oh this person wanted to do this fun thing (in this case skydiving) so they came up with a commercial where they could do the fun thing at no cost to them personally.
D — What this shows is that she doesn’t have enough money to “film” a spot and she had her “consultants” go through her photos and video and put together a quick ad so they would have something on the air. Too quick and tries to do too much.
I think it’s a pretty weak ad. My guess is they had footage of her skydiving and decided to use it, along with the b-roll, to keep production costs down. The skydiving footage is actually pretty distracting and draws the attention away from the message. The production feels shoddy and rushed. C+ ad at best…
Is there any actual money behind it? Otherwise it’s not really an ad. I don’t think people are looking for a risk taker for their comptroller candidate. But I’m pretty sure this isn’t poll tested messaging lol
I was so distracted with the video of her skydiving, I didn’t get anything else out of it. I get what they’re trying to say about courage but the visuals of her smiling while doing the tandom jump just didnt sell the message. I went back to watch it again and saw the smaller pictures and messages that get completely overshadowed by the video. You’ll remember her for being the skydiving candidate, but not much else. I think if she had a ton of funding, then it would be a throwaway attention getter, but she has limited resources, which really makes me question this.
It sure does nothing for me but I am basically against most of what she has to say. It is ” get Trump” ad and seems many in Illinois like that position. On the alone she cannot go wrong.
- Behind the Scenes - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:46 am:
I don’t understand how a State Comptroller is going to “stand up to Donald Trump”. I get that he is primary target of every Democrat running for anything, but as Comptroller? How about something on her realistic plans? I give it a D.
I rate it no better than a D. I was too focused on her skydiving expecting that it had some relevance to her message. And as a result I didn’t hear half of the ad.
The campaign needs to do something. I guess this is something. I really hope campaign funds weren’t used to pay for her to jump out of a plane.
She may not have a lot of 4k footage available and didn’t have the funds or time to pay for the production of a nice 4k ad. I’m not a fan of the audio mix for the air plane. It is very distracting.
Politically George HW Bush jumped out of a plane to celebrate his birthday. After that, I don’t think it’s considered cool anymore to jump out of an airplane.
There should be a rule; If you do not look as cool as Keanu Reeves or Patrick Swayze jumping out of a plane in 1991’s Point Break you should not pay for other people to watch the footage.
However, it is attention getting and I am at least comparing her to another politician that jumped out of a plane.
I don’t think it does a whole lot once it gets anyone’s attention. The ad also relies a whole lot on people reading about her resume in quick little pop ups that aren’t the focus of the screen, but maybe people watch digital ads more closely than I do?
There’s an air of … presumptuousness in this ad, perhaps in the whole campaign, and this ad fails to introduce Illinois voters to a candidate that most of them have never heard of them before.
- That Train’s Never Late - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 11:00 am:
B-. Kiffy’s gonna Kiffy. She picked a bad spot to move up the ladder.
This particular race fascinates me. It’s so hard to break through the IL9 noise for the Senate primary, let alone this one.
Don’t find it effective, and I’m open to supporting her. Needs to be better. While it’s a little thing, she was a marine. There are very, very few marines trained to be airborne. I know she isn’t tying the video to her military service, but it came to mind immediately for me.
- Tom - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:12 am:
The tie-in to the jump from a plane isn’t clear to me. Maybe I’m slow this frigid morning. I would rate it a C.
- Alton Sinkhole - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:15 am:
I like the concept and it’s unique but like Tom said, they don’t mention it at all, nor do we hear from Kifowit for even one second. Seems like a half-baked idea that sounded cool but never got fleshed out.
And I say this as a Kifowit voter.
D+
- Think again - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:18 am:
Love the ad - Kifowit is a Marine veteran and has moderate views - I’ve spoken to her many times at advocacy events. Don’t like the hypocrisy of the “bad actors” bit with the MJM image - when her campaign ( along with many others) took over 700K from his committees.
- just because - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:19 am:
I like it. It is unique. It certainly pushes her veteran status the most. She needs to also push her finance background regarding the years she spent working on state budgets. i give it a B+
- hisgirlfriday - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:23 am:
One of those commercials where I cynically think oh this person wanted to do this fun thing (in this case skydiving) so they came up with a commercial where they could do the fun thing at no cost to them personally.
- Jr. Neef - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:28 am:
D — What this shows is that she doesn’t have enough money to “film” a spot and she had her “consultants” go through her photos and video and put together a quick ad so they would have something on the air. Too quick and tries to do too much.
- Media Thoughts - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:31 am:
I think it’s a pretty weak ad. My guess is they had footage of her skydiving and decided to use it, along with the b-roll, to keep production costs down. The skydiving footage is actually pretty distracting and draws the attention away from the message. The production feels shoddy and rushed. C+ ad at best…
- meh - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:33 am:
Is there any actual money behind it? Otherwise it’s not really an ad. I don’t think people are looking for a risk taker for their comptroller candidate. But I’m pretty sure this isn’t poll tested messaging lol
- sno way - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:33 am:
I was so distracted with the video of her skydiving, I didn’t get anything else out of it. I get what they’re trying to say about courage but the visuals of her smiling while doing the tandom jump just didnt sell the message. I went back to watch it again and saw the smaller pictures and messages that get completely overshadowed by the video. You’ll remember her for being the skydiving candidate, but not much else. I think if she had a ton of funding, then it would be a throwaway attention getter, but she has limited resources, which really makes me question this.
- Alton Sinkhole - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:35 am:
==It certainly pushes her veteran status the most.==
It doesn’t mention her military service at all?
- clec dcn - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:38 am:
It sure does nothing for me but I am basically against most of what she has to say. It is ” get Trump” ad and seems many in Illinois like that position. On the alone she cannot go wrong.
- Behind the Scenes - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:46 am:
I don’t understand how a State Comptroller is going to “stand up to Donald Trump”. I get that he is primary target of every Democrat running for anything, but as Comptroller? How about something on her realistic plans? I give it a D.
- Fenton - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:48 am:
When you’re running for an office that manages money, do you want to project the image of a risk-taker by jumping out of a plane?
- Pundent - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:55 am:
I rate it no better than a D. I was too focused on her skydiving expecting that it had some relevance to her message. And as a result I didn’t hear half of the ad.
- Candy Dogood - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 10:58 am:
C+
The campaign needs to do something. I guess this is something. I really hope campaign funds weren’t used to pay for her to jump out of a plane.
She may not have a lot of 4k footage available and didn’t have the funds or time to pay for the production of a nice 4k ad. I’m not a fan of the audio mix for the air plane. It is very distracting.
Politically George HW Bush jumped out of a plane to celebrate his birthday. After that, I don’t think it’s considered cool anymore to jump out of an airplane.
There should be a rule; If you do not look as cool as Keanu Reeves or Patrick Swayze jumping out of a plane in 1991’s Point Break you should not pay for other people to watch the footage.
However, it is attention getting and I am at least comparing her to another politician that jumped out of a plane.
I don’t think it does a whole lot once it gets anyone’s attention. The ad also relies a whole lot on people reading about her resume in quick little pop ups that aren’t the focus of the screen, but maybe people watch digital ads more closely than I do?
There’s an air of … presumptuousness in this ad, perhaps in the whole campaign, and this ad fails to introduce Illinois voters to a candidate that most of them have never heard of them before.
- That Train’s Never Late - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 11:00 am:
B-. Kiffy’s gonna Kiffy. She picked a bad spot to move up the ladder.
This particular race fascinates me. It’s so hard to break through the IL9 noise for the Senate primary, let alone this one.
- Lincoln Lad - Monday, Jan 26, 26 @ 11:04 am:
Don’t find it effective, and I’m open to supporting her. Needs to be better. While it’s a little thing, she was a marine. There are very, very few marines trained to be airborne. I know she isn’t tying the video to her military service, but it came to mind immediately for me.