3 Steps to Smarter Political Advertising
In the 2024 cycle, over $10 billion was spent on political advertising. This historic investment in political marketing came in the same year that artificial intelligence tools became widely available.
But despite the record amount of cash available for political marketers, the most effective AI tools were still under utilized in most consultants’ creative workflows.
In fact, the role of AI in enhancing ad performance remains largely anecdotal, confined to a few case studies and private conversations. This is far from the scary apocalypse that many had predicted.
At the same time, in post-election retrospectives, a recurring question emerged: Can there be a better way to connect the data on what voters care about with how campaigns talk to them?
There is a clear opportunity to close this gap. By integrating multiple data sources – alongside human creativity and, yes, AI – campaigns can finally bridge the divide between data-driven insights and persuasive messaging at scale. Here’s how:
1. Look Beyond The Voter File
While national narratives may set the tone, voter persuasion primarily happens at the local level. It’s critical that campaigns uncover voters’ concerns through local insights, instead of relying on broad, one-size-fits-all messaging.
This means investing research budgets at the local level. Polling, focus groups, and even community conversations can help campaigns understand what issues resonate the most with voters.
For example, in a recent non-partisan School Board race that we worked on, the candidate polled the district to understand exactly what voters cared most about and whether distinct voting blocs weighted particular issues differently. There were clear variations among demographics and top issues like school safety, funding, and the curriculum. That information was critical in how the candidate engaged each group on different platforms and formats.
2. AI + Data = Big Opportunity
The use of data to improve advertising content isn’t new, but it’s been difficult to do quickly and accurately, across multiple audiences and platforms at scale. Campaigns have been limited by resources and capacity — until now.
Now, AI can help engage audiences around the issues that matter, on the platforms they use most, in a way that wasn’t possible before.
In the last election cycle, an agency we worked with used AI to scale a campaign to 400 ads, across three states, and over 100 candidates through the help of AI messaging informed by internal and external data. The ads were divided into three test groups:
- Human-written ads
- AI-generated ads
- AI-assisted ads (AI-generated but human-edited)
The content was compared, and the results showed that AI-assisted ads allowed for more scale and consistently over-performed, achieving higher engagement rates and lower costs per impression.
3. Rapid Response With Clear Guardrails
Instead of testing every message and optimizing every word, AI can help us move faster in a safe and ethical way.
This data can tell us what issues are resonating with voters, and AI can help campaigns review the content that they have already generated or even auto-generate new pieces of content based on what has been proven successful. The best campaigns don’t just test messaging before launch — they evolve their messaging based on how their audiences react.
For example, in a Kentucky state Senate race that we worked on, quickly generating new content and improving the messaging using ad performance data was critical to remaining competitive in a Republican district.
Again, while this underlying concept is an old advertising best practice – the speed and effectiveness in connecting it to real time results and scaling it for smaller campaigns – is brand new.
Now is the time to test these strategies.
Forget the hype of AI. While the Center for Media Engagement at UT Austin and others are working to better understand the extent of AI’s role in politics, one thing is clear: this year is critical for implementation. There are thousands of local races across the country who can benefit from turning insights into persuasive, fine-tune advertising campaigns. This means investing in local data and leveraging AI tools for smarter, more efficient advertising along with clear guardrails and human oversight.
Maya Hutchinson is the founder and CEO of BattlegroundAI. She is a data-driven marketer with roots in Democratic politics.
