The field of politics is primed for a
digital media explosion. According to a recent report from Borrell Associates, political spending on digital media will surpass $1 billion in 2016. Half of that spend will be at the state and local
level.
President Obama has been referred to as the “Big Data” president by various political commentators, but marketers have had four years to study his campaign’s tactics and
optimize them. Perhaps it’s not surprising that future elections will be a data battlefield.
Capitalizing on this trend, Thinknear, a location-based Telenav company, announced the
launch today of the ThinkPolitical Toolkit, a mobile advertising solution designed for political marketers.
“Location is politics,” says Thinknear CEO Loren Hillberg. For the most
part, he says, political districts don’t conform to Zip codes or any other sort of logical boundary. Accurate location targeting is an extremely valuable tool for any political marketer looking
to reach a certain demographic within a very specific area.
“By layering accurate location data with geographic shapes covering everything from large congressional districts to
individual precincts, we can optimize ad spend for political candidates looking to take their message to mobile,” states Hillberg.
The ThinkPolitical platform leverages places data from
parent company Telenav, as well as second- and third-party data, and user location data from Thinknear. The ThinkPolitical Toolkit includes politically focused targeting tools, creative message
testing capabilities, effectiveness analytics, and a team of political marketing experts to manage campaigns centered around specific candidates and ballot initiatives.
The toolkit isn’t
just for candidates, says Hillberg. SuperPAC’s or any issue-focused organization could potentially use their location-based targeting to reach the right audience.
Ads in the political
season can get tiring, but Hillberg says: “We can control that on mobile, and make sure a specific individual doesn’t get the same message 15 times.”