Hillary Clinton Fans and the Brands They Like

Note: This article was originally published on the CivicScience blog on April 28, 2015. 

On the heels of Hillary Clinton’s official presidential candidacy announcement, an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal referenced a missed advertising opportunity for brands on social media. Although the announcement news was a hot topic on social media, brands were hesitant to spend advertising dollars in promoted posts. According to digital marketing firm Amobee Brand Intelligence, it “did not see any brands aligning themselves proactively” around the news, which could be a missed opportunity for brands.

But what’s the right way to make these connections. In a new study, CivicScience profiles the Hillary Clinton fan and identifies which brands over-index in favorability among her fans, as well as her non-fans.

After collecting 3,719 U.S. adult responses to the question “How much do you like Hillary Clinton as a presidential candidate?” we were able to create two segments – favorable respondents or “Hillary Clinton Fans” and unfavorable respondents or “Non-fans”. The segments were cross-tabulated against hundreds of other questions in our InsightStore™ in order to profile the Hillary Clinton Fans and find the brands that they and non-fans have a stronger affinity. Here is a summary of what we uncovered:

When compared to the general adult population, Hillary Clinton fans are more likely to be single women, 57% are homeowners, and they are slightly more likely to live in an urban or suburban area. Fans enjoy reading and consider themselves to be morning people. They are more likely to watch local news daily and are more influenced by ads on TV. They make it a point to purchase environmentally friendly products and care about the social consciousness and overall kindness of companies.

The top three brands where Hillary Clinton fans have a more favorable opinion than the general U.S. adult population are:

  1. Boost Mobile
  2. Peet’s Coffee & Tea
  3. Popeye’s Chicken

Which companies should steer clear of aligning themselves with the Clinton campaign? Capital Grille, Applebee’s, Denny’s, and various fast food restaurants.

As the campaign season heats up, insights like these may be valuable to brands’ advertising and marketing decisions.

View the complete study here.

Jennifer: