{"id":885,"date":"2017-03-02T08:32:29","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T08:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/?p=885"},"modified":"2017-03-02T08:32:29","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T08:32:29","slug":"data-lessons-from-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/data-lessons-from-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Data Lessons from Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s \u2018Observer\u2019<\/a> newspaper carried a lengthy piece on the work of Cambridge Analytica during both our EU Referendum campaign, and the US Election.<\/p>\n

Cambridge Analytica is a data business, backed by a wealthy American called Robert Mercer, who is both a friend of Nigel Farage and a supporter of Donald Trump through an association with Steve Bannon. The twin successes of the Brexit campaign, and the Trump election apparently owe something to CA\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Details of how CA does what they do are unsurprisingly sketchy, but it seems they\u2019ve developed a way of incorporating all sorts of data from multiple sources, including Facebook into a psychological profiling of many millions of people.<\/p>\n

As the \u2018Observer\u2019 report states: \u201cOn its website, Cambridge Analytica makes the astonishing boast that it has psychological profiles based on 5,000 separate pieces of data on 220 million American voters \u2013 its USP is to use this data to understand people\u2019s deepest emotions and then target them accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll leave others more qualified to comment on the ethics of this sort of profiling, but there are a few implications for the media industry.<\/p>\n

The first is that if (as the \u2018Observer\u2019 piece claims) Mercer is all about dismantling the media establishment, then the established media ought to realise that in this particular arms race it has a pea shooter to combat the most efficient and accurate machine-gun ever devised.<\/p>\n

One example makes the point. I\u2019m a long-time subscriber to, and member of \u2018The Guardian\u2019. Yet almost every online article I access from their site begs me to become a member and to support their journalism.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Guardian\u2019 can\u2019t even work out that a member and a subscriber doesn\u2019t need to be asked to subscribe or join.<\/p>\n

So much for big data.<\/p>\n

Yet Cambridge Analytica are busy providing the framework to allow their political customers to fine-tune the messages sent out in such a way that they resonate powerfully with those receiving them. And one group of messages in the US is around how the mainstream media aren\u2019t to be trusted.<\/p>\n

Like it or not, all you have to do is pick up a newspaper or turn on a TV to know that that theme has certainly resonated.<\/p>\n

Our industry struggles to tailor creative messages based on those reached. Far too often we place the same ad in \u2018The Guardian\u2019 as in \u2018The Daily Mail\u2019 \u2013 two titles at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to their readers\u2019 attitudes about most things.<\/p>\n

A columnist moving from \u2018The Guardian\u2019 to \u2018The Daily Mail\u2019 (as one or two have done) doesn\u2019t write the same stuff \u2013 he or she tailors the message to the audience. Yet we can\u2019t do that with ads, it seems.<\/p>\n

The \u2018production cost\u2019 argument doesn\u2019t stand up any more (if it ever did \u2013 after all most of the time we\u2019re talking tone, not 100% different executions). We haven\u2019t yet moved to the point where data contributes to creativity as opposed to merely measuring its result.<\/p>\n

Whatever you may think of Cambridge Analytica, and the people they work for the fact remains that they appear to have built a system far ahead of anything in our business, despite all the self-proclaimed big data experts inhabiting our world.<\/p>\n

Remember when we used to mock politicians\u2019 inane attempts at marketing? Well, no more.<\/p>\n

Reportedly, CA has no great interest in brand work. Probably just as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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