You know politics are heating up when the digital crew starts cooking up new offerings.
Now we’ve received word that Thinknear by Telenav has announced its launch of a “ThinkPolitical Toolkit,” a new mobile advertising solution designed to help political marketers more effectively engage with voters and various campaign influencers.
“The move comes as political campaigns are increasing spending on mobile advertising to record levels ahead of the 2016 election,” Thinknear says. “Location-based data is key to political advertising success because of its ability to enable hyperlocal targeting, with the option to easily cater to extremely specific demographics within target voting districts.”
Location targeting is a key part of the plan for the political toolkit.
“Mobile is a natural fit for political marketers as more and more voters consume digital media on mobile devices. But the lack of accurate location data has held back performance in the past,” said Thinknear President Loren Hillberg. “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.”
It’s also about the money.
“According to a recently released report from Borrell Associates, 2016 political spending on digital media will exceed $1 billion for the first time, making up 9.5 percent of total spending — a nearly 5,000 percent increase from the $22.25 million spent on digital ads in 2008,” notes the company.
About half of estimated 2016 political spending will be for elections at the state and local level.
Because “all politics is local,” ThinkPolitical 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.
“Political campaigns are limited and finite in their duration, leaving no chance to adjust strategy later when elections have come and gone,” said Lucas Dickey, VP of Product at Thinknear. “Greater accuracy for location targeting will make political spend on mobile more effective from the get-go, thus ultimately more efficient.”
