IT Blog

What makes for an effective political ad?

With the 2020 presidential election underway, that question could shape America’s future. And it’s not an easy one to answer, despite growing scrutiny over the role advertising will play in the 2020 election. A record $6 billion is expected to be spent on political ads this year, and a much greater share of that money will pour into digital platforms—most notably Facebook—that feature lighter regulation than TV and incredibly granular ad targeting. But that only increases the importance of knowing which ads actually persuade voters.

Until recently, it’s been hard to know what works. Digital ad metrics—such as impressions, view time, and click-through rates—provide an incomplete picture. A bump in the polls can’t be attributed to any particular ad. And focus groups are notoriously unreliable.

But what if you could peek inside voters’ brains instead? Over the past couple of years, I’ve been covering a new trend called…