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2 Minute Read

The Era of One-Size-Fits-All Advocacy Is Over

One of the constant themes of this newsletter is that the political sector can learn crucial strategies from the commercial sector. Today, we begin a multi-part discussion of perhaps the most glaring difference between the approach of the two sectors.

Commercial advertisers have for years been customizing messages to meet consumers where they are. But until now, political advocacy has rarely met decision-makers or voters where they are. This customized journey will transform political advocacy in 2026, all on the road to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Today's short read kicks off that journey.

Why Are We Getting Outsmarted By Clothing Retailers?

Below is a screenshot of an ad that your author received this morning on Politico. The pictures on the left are actual items of clothing I recently looked at online. Notice that this is not a brand ad from the retailer. It's an ad with the precise items I looked at, in the exact colors I looked at them in. (The blazer is a lovely mid-weight for Northern California winters, but I digress).

Now compare that to the ad below that I received a few seconds later on the same site from a major energy company:

Let's set aside the fact that the ad crams so much text on screen that I can barely read it. But a few questions should jump out:

First, I am not an energy policy-maker. So why is the company paying to serve me this ad at all? 

Second, why would the company think that I have any particular interest in their executive Q&A?

Now don't get me wrong. I'm sure if I were to read deeper, the discussion of wholesale power market governance in CAISO would be juicier than the Taylor Swift/Blake Lively texts. But let's stipulate that the company running this ad has no reason to think that I am in the market for energy policy more than I am the (taupe?) blazer in the first ad. 

Which ad do you think I'm more likely to engage with?

And why is a pants retailer who has vertically expanded into covering torsos, executing a more relevant ad campaign than one of the largest energy companies in the country?

Finally, candidly ask yourself—is your messaging "tailored," like the blazer ad? Or does that energy company's ad feel a little too close to home?

We'll pick up the answers to these questions here next week. 

One Way To Operationalize This Email

🔱 Do a quick scroll on the political news site of your choice. Notice the commercial ads you see. Do they seem relevant to you? Notice the advocacy ads you see on the same site. How relevant do they seem by comparison?

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