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2 Minute Read
The Customized Journey
In last week's edition, we showed you how commercial advertisers are years ahead of political advocates in customizing messages to meet their audiences where they are—emotionally, intellectually, and temporally. Today we show you how it's now possible for political advocates to do the same, and why the winning campaigns in 2026 will do just that.
Decision-Makers and Voters are Constantly Telling Us How To Move Them
Voters and decision-makers are constantly signaling what they care about through the content they consume, the issues they engage with, and the choices they make. Let's start with voters:
🔱 A parent researching school ratings signals education concerns.
🔱 A homeowner comparing insurance quotes after wildfire season signals climate or disaster preparedness concerns.
🔱 Someone doom-scrolling crime statistics at 2am signals public safety anxieties.
Decision-makers leave an even deeper digital footprint. Politicians have long public track records of speeches, hearings, statements, interviews, podcast appearances, donations, and countless other sources of information. Each bit of this data forms a puzzle piece that tells us exactly how to communicate to with any elected official on any issue.
AI Now Let's Us Understand This Data
One of the central features of the AI Age is unlimited information chasing finite amounts of attention. But AI itself also lets us synthesize the countless signals that voters and decision-makers send about how to hold their attention.
At the core this synthesis power is Natural Language Processing. (NLP) is a central subfield of AI that powers large language models and enables machines to understand, interpret, and classify human language at scale. By identifying the themes, topics, and tone of the content people consume—across TV shows, movies, news articles, and digital media—we now build audiences based on demonstrated behaviors. This intelligence helps campaigns recognize and act on audience demand signals, delivering issue-specific messages that reflect what their targets are engaging with in real time.
Psychographic Data Takes This Understanding Even Deeper
Psychographic data builds audience profiles based on factors such as personal values, shopping histories, engagement, brand affinity, and numerous other factors. This information allows campaigns to understand not just who their audiences are, but what motivates them. Advocates can then deliver messages based on observed behavior rather than averages, enabling hyper-specific targeting across every stage of the customized journey.
One More Step For The Customized Journey. . .
All of this begs the question—how can advocates turn this rich array of information into tailored content, without busting their creative budgets? We'll pick up the answer to that question here next week. But hint—the commercial sector and AI pave the way here too.
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🔱 Check your upcoming campaign. Are you using averages and hunches—or actual observed behavior to match your message to your audience?
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