Online advertising in politics

Cookie targeting and digital ads.

Based on the hype we hear, you can run your campaign with no volunteers and a staff of only one: a clever twentysomething armed with a Macbook and the candidate's credit card. You've probably heard the pitch: He can develop full profiles on everyone in your voter database, based on their browsing history and Facebook data, which will enable you the candidate to reach tens of thousands of voters in the most effective manner ever imagined, by displaying your ads and videos on their browser pages and Facebook views.

Or so we're told.

The technology certainly exists (and demonstrates itself every time an ad for tennis shoes appears on your screen after you've shopped for a pair online).

Here's how it works

As we've seen, many websites won't work properly unless you enable "cookies", which are digital signatures containing your internet address (which can approximate your location) and your browsing history (and sometimes the personal information you've entered) on the site. They say it's to "enhance your browsing experience" but we all know it's sold to marketers (on the internet they're known as "ad exchanges") who aggregate the "cookies" left by you and millions of others. These compilations are sold to advertisers who would like to reach people based on their location and preferences; for example, everyone in western Pennsylvania who's shopped for Steelers gear. Based on the billions spent on online advertising, more than a few people think it works.

Advertisers pay between $2.50 and $3 per CPM, which means "cost per mille", or thousand, page views. In other words, every time your ad appears on someone's browser page, you're paying about a quarter of a cent. This cost can escalate rapidly when you consider the hundreds of thousands or "cookie" profiles matched up with your county or district. Here's a website that estimates costs.

When you hear the word "targeted" in a sentence with "online advertising", think of it as a shotgun blast instead of a rifle shot: you'll probably hit the target but with lots more lead. And you'll hit things that were outside your aim.

Like most other forms of advertising, the hype falls short of the reality. That's why we place online advertising in the same category with transit ads, newspaper inserts, billboards and local Cable TV: They can be effective at reinforcing your brand, and in some cases can be helpful as get-out-the vote reminders. So they should be part of your media "mix".