The Startup Betting on an AI Advertising Tool For Politics

As companies like Meta prepare to roll out AI-enabled advertising tools, one startup is making the case that political campaigns need their own.

BattlegroundAI, a Denver-based startup that caters to progressive campaigns and organizations, is launching a new tool that can instantly generate platform-compliance programmatic ads with just a few clicks. The idea, according to the company’s top executive, is to give campaigns and organizations access to an easy-to-use system built specifically for politics.

“A lot of companies try to go really broad and really wide with their tools and I think especially when it comes to campaigns and nonprofits, that doesn’t always work. It doesn’t always address their needs,” Maya Hutchinson, BattlegroundAI’s founder and CEO, told Campaigns and Elections.

“I think we’re very intentional about it,” she added. “That’s who we’re building it for and why we’re building it.”

A growing number of political consultants have moved to integrate AI into their work in recent years. But even some of the most devoted political technologists have warned that many existing AI platforms aren’t yet user-friendly enough for industry professionals to take full advantage of. 

At the same time, there are lingering concerns over AI’s ability to produce and disseminate misinformation – something that could have major legal and reputational repercussions in the political world.

According to Hutchinson, BattlegroundAI’s tool – dubbed Programmagic – is intended to address those concerns. 

Users are simply prompted to fill out a few bits of information, like their desired headline and the names of any sponsors, that the tool can use to generate a set of pre-sized programmatic ads. There’s also the option to upload headshots, change color palettes and customize fonts. Programmagic then spits out six fully compliant display ad variations. 

The ‘Human Element’

Settling on a final product, Hutchinson said, still requires a “human element.” Rather, Programmagic is designed to get advertisers to “the 80-yard line,” while still maintaining the need for users to personalize the end product to fit their particular cause or candidate.

“I think we need to balance the concern for new technologies and misuse of these tools by being in the driver’s seat and saying this is how we’re going to drive this new tech forward in a way that is safe and thoughtful and ethical,” she said.

The tool is still in beta testing, Hutchinson said. In the coming months, users will be able to request access to Programmagic’s API, allowing campaigns and agencies to integrate the tool into their internal systems, she said.

Some political consultants see the emergence of AI technology as a way to extend a greater level of professionalism to down-ballot campaigns – organizations that often run on shoestring budgets and have few, if any, full-time staffers on hand. 

“They don’t have enough budget, they don’t have the resources to use a lot of the tactics that you see on larger campaigns,” Hutchinson said. “And in a lot of these down ballot races, there’s a lot of resources with AI.” 

But the tech is also intended to be “scalable,” Hutchinson said, adding that the tool can also be used to streamline the creative process at larger agencies facing growing demands for content with shorter timelines and smaller budgets.

For many political professionals, she said, Programmagic is a way to familiarize themselves with AI without running into the high technological barriers that have made some political professionals wary of embracing the tools.

“At the end of the day, we really want folks to feel like they can learn and experiment and not just see AI as this nebulous, scary technology that’s infiltrating a lot of the stuff you’re using day to day,” Hutchinson said. “We want people to ask how they can use it as a really intentional tool to address their pain points.”