lotame art of political campaigning: microtargeting

The Art of Political Campaigning

Advanced MicrotargetingJune 17, 2011

Confidential – © 2011 Lotame Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Political Campaigning: Then & Now

The days of winning elections by shaking hands and kissing babies are long gone.

“Old election tech” has given way to micro-targeting, social media and the never-ending news cycle.

Welcome to the radically new world

of 21st century, tech-driven political campaigning.


Digital Elections: 2008, 2010 and Beyond

United States: 2008 Campaign – “While social media garnered the bulk of the media coverage, innovations such as downloadable voter registrations available on Facebook and, more important, a 13.5 million person email list were chief accomplishments of the 2008 digital team. The influx of new voters and new energy resulted in some $500 million being raised online from 3 million donors, most in increments of less than $100 (and much of it spent on TV advertising); 35,000 groups organized through the Web site My Barack Obama.”

Source: AdAge June 2011


The Precision Imperative

The need to precisely align political messages with appropriate, receptive, and “friendly’ constituencies is more critical than at any point in our political history.

There is increasing voter antipathy.

The average voter has neither the time nor the inclination to wrap their mind around myriad issues (taxes, wars, education, health care, etc.)


Embracing Technology Innovations

Taking full advantage of aggressive targeting and activation within digital media is no longer an option, it’s a necessity

Master micro-targeting within digital to:Reach precise audiences

Identify and activate “friendlies”

Encourage pass-along and viral engagement

GOTV!

Every great journey begins with a few small steps


The Lotame Posture and Perspective

Lotame is a data-driven Internet advertising platform that specializes in reaching and activating precise audience segments

We were an active player in dozens of campaigns during the 2010 election cycle and are ramping up for 2012


Online Targeting Strategies

The BasicsTarget by geo: region, state, congressional district, or zipTarget by age and genderTarget by known affiliation

The Second LevelTarget by more nuanced political views and behaviors

"Mobilization" refers to an audience of people who are active within your political party and will definitely vote for your candidate. The goal is to get these people to spread the word, donate, etc.

"Persuasion" refers to an audience of people who are undecided as to which party's candidate they will be voting for and the goal is to persuade these people to vote for your candidate.


Online Targeting Techniques

Political BT: We analyze how individuals interact with websites - where they go, what they do, etc.

Custom surveys: We gauge party affiliation and intensity of activity/involvement via in-banner studies fielded online

Profile data: We leverage data from social media profiles and other third party sources

Affinity Tools: We scale audiences using look-a-like algorithmsEXAMPLE: We identify behaviors and interests of those in the Mobilization audience and intelligently expand the reach people originally unconsidered who look, act and respond in similar ways


Targeting Optimization

Campaign Optimization: Lotame will continually adjust the targeting of the campaign based on specific campaign objectives

Example goals: driving traffic to a candidate's site

getting individuals to donate to a candidate's campaign

increasing awareness of a candidate

Increasing favorability of a candidate

increase intent to vote for a candidate


Engaging Creative Executions

Lotame will execute and deploy several different types of creative units to meet the campaign’s objective:

Expandable units

Expandable video units

Segment-specific flash

Pre-roll video

Example


The Bottom Line

Lotame has achieved success in meeting and exceeding various campaign objectives: CTR, VCR, Conversion Rate, Interaction Rate, Brand Awareness, Intent to Vote, etc.

No one behavior or data point drives these outcomes – still “art” in the process

We optimize each campaign towards the target objective for that individual campaign

EXAMPLE levers: inventory placement, creative type, user behaviors, time of day, etc


Case Study: Rubio Prevails


Lotame’s Role in Rubio’s Win

“Lotame Solutions, collected data and ran microtargeting for Rubio’s campaign. The firm’s not-so-simple task was to create a universe of voters and divide them into three groups: mobilization voters, persuasion voters, and opposition voters. Mobilization voters were Rubio’s hardcore supporters, energized enough not just to vote for him, but to lobby others to do so as well. Persuasion voters were just supportive enough to pull the lever for Rubio. Opposition voters, on the other hand, were dead set against Rubio and were unreceptive to any of the Rubio campaign’s messages.”

“Lotame Solutions, collected data and ran microtargeting for Rubio’s campaign. The firm’s not-so-simple task was to create a universe of voters and divide them into three groups: mobilization voters, persuasion voters, and opposition voters. Mobilization voters were Rubio’s hardcore supporters, energized enough not just to vote for him, but to lobby others to do so as well. Persuasion voters were just supportive enough to pull the lever for Rubio. Opposition voters, on the other hand, were dead set against Rubio and were unreceptive to any of the Rubio campaign’s messages.”


Cautionary Notes

Privacy, privacy, privacyPlay by the rules and take the high road

There’s “data” and then there’s DATA

Start early – latecomers will miss out on data aggregation, relevant inventory (“cross-over”) and optimization


Thank You

Adam Lehman Chief Operating Officer

[email protected]

lotame art of political campaigning: microtargeting

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