Posted on: October 29, 2024, 12:08h.
Last updated on: October 29, 2024, 12:41h.
The Harris-Walz campaign has taken out biggest advertisement of the 2024 presidential race on the biggest video screen in the world. The Sphere in Vegas debuted its first political activation on its Exosphere on Tuesday, for the final week before Election Day.
Some may accuse the Sphere of choosing sides, but the only side it’s choosing is money. According to an agency pitch deck reviewed by KSNV-TV/Las Vegas, a one-week campaign on the 366 foot-tall digital screen cost $650,000 in September 2023. And that price has most likely increased since.
Pulsing for 90 seconds to the beat of Beyonce’s “Freedom,” the ad features the messages “Vote For Opportunity,” “When We Vote, We Win” and “Vote For A New Way Forward” spinning around the Exosphere before stopping on an image of Vice President Kamala Harris and the names “Harris-Walz.”
TMZ, which broke the story, has the video…” /]
Nevada is, of course, a swing state. And both Harris and former President Donald Trump plan rallies on Thursday in Las Vegas, the state’s most populous region by a factor of 5.5.
Harris will speak at an undisclosed Las Vegas location between 5-9 p.m., while former President Trump will appear at Lee’s Family Forum in nearby Henderson, Nev. at 3:30 p.m.
But visuals on the Sphere ignore state borders. They reach millions of people worldwide — especially Gen-Zers via TikTok. And most of the people who stare at the Sphere in person are visitors from other places.
Though this will be Harris’ first time on the Sphere, she’s also been in it. The vice president and her husband, Doug Emhoff, attended U2’s residency there on January 27, 2024.
Ad Infinitum
When the Exosphere came to life on July 4, 2023, it featured no paid advertisements. Creative videos lorded over its 57.6 million LED diodes, helping Las Vegas fall in love with the orb. (The yellow emoji earned its own social media fan pages!)
But in a world run by the almighty dollar — where the Sphere’s corporate owner initially lost nearly too many them to continue operating — this golden era was destined not to last.
Indeed, only three months later — three weeks before the Sphere even opened — YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket campaign became its first commercial.
Since then, the orb has been open for business to just about anyone with the cheddar — though several videos it was purported to have displayed were only hoaxes.
