When you get down to it, campaign websites typically have two main audiences: (1) people looking to learn about a candidate and (2) supporters looking for ways to help the campaign out.  Most campaign website designs focus on the supporter audience, taking on a look that is somewhere between a news site and an action center.  This approach probably makes sense for well known candidates with established brands.  But I’ve always thought that less well known candidates should focus their sites more on introducing themselves than on updating folks on the minutiae of their campaign.  They should use their website to tell folks who they are.

In the last few months, I’ve noticed some campaigns creatively using photography and video to really brand the candidate, instead of taking on the look and feel of a normal campaign website.  Below are some examples of this trend (click on images to go to full site).  While I think some of these sites are better done than others, I applaud all of them for trying something different.

Nathan Deal (R-GA)

Karen Diebel (R-FL)

Sean Duffy (R-WI)

Martha Roby

Pat Toomey (R-PA)

Kevin Yoder (R-KS)

Incidentally, all of the examples of this trend I’ve seen are from Republican candidates.