WPP’s programmatic platform Xaxis has today (10 November) announced the launch of the industry’s first targeted political advertising solution, Xaxis Politics.
An estimated $1bn is set to be spent on digital advertising alone during next year’s US presidential election, according to research by Borrell Associates.
The solution will help candidates to reach reach US voters across all digital channels without using personally identifiable information, enabling them to leverage offline voter data for their digital campaign and reach the most relevant voters locally or nationally.
Xaxis Politics will integrate the Haystaq National Voter Database, which represents 166 million voters, into the Turbine DMP, allowing engagement through political affiliations and other demographic information, effective audience segmentation and directing of appropriate messaging.
“Voter data is the lifeblood of political advertising, with a lengthy pedigree as the engine of successful direct voter marketing,” said Xaxis global chief executive officer Brian Gleason.
“By bringing this data into the digital space, we’re opening up an entirely new level of sophistication for political marketers competing to have their voices heard in a crowded and fragmented market.”
The solution allows advertisers to run campaigns connected to events like statements made during televised political debates. It is also hoped the platform will allow advertisers to connect with the notoriously difficult to reach younger voters through their mobile devices.
“Political marketers have come to expect the accuracy of individual-level targeting models for direct mail, phones and door-to-door canvasing,” said Haystaq DNA chief executive Ken Strasma. “Until now, using those models to target voters online has been a time-consuming and expensive custom process.
“With more than 20 pre-built models predicting turnout, partisanship, ideology and positions on hot-button issues, now it is easy for online campaigns to target the right voters with the right message at the right time.”
