Digital Thinkers Forum

What do Taylor Swift and Crowdtesting have in common?

For one, they can make or break your campaign. In this special episode of our Digital Thinkers Forum, we had Julius van de Laar, a political strategist who worked with the likes of Barack Obama, talked about what makes an electoral marketing campaign successful as he puts the current race to the White House under the microscope.

The power of perspective

As the election draws near, tensions are high with both candidates, Trump and Biden, setting unprecedented records in a formidable clash of titans. Titans because they are very old? Yes. Because they have virtual unlimited political power? Also, yes.

After Biden had set a new record for raising $25 mil in one night for the Democratic campaign, Trump’s ego remained shattered for 2 weeks only as he doubled that during one single (what we imagine to be) lavishly luxurious evening at Mar-A-Lago. Now … how much are your budgets for your next promo campaign?

Another unprecedented event is the fact that Trump is the first ex-president to be on trial. You might think Trump’s campaign is dead, but some argue, as Julius van de Laar points out, that this can pose a huge opportunity. ‘You can make sure that Donald Trump is going to walk out that courtroom every night, going to turn on the camera and he’s going to do an impromptu press conference.’ So, does the trial truly hurt Trump or did his team turn the situation on its head?

Polls, polls, polls

‘The great thing about US politics is there is a poll for everything.’ And Julius van de Laar has a fair point! Polls say that Biden and Trump are only 1 percent apart when it comes to them being elected (44% vs 45%). 52% of Americans trust Trump more with ‘fixing’ the economy, compared to only 28% rooting for Biden’s.

There’s even a poll that places Trump above God, so to speak, as the American people would believe the former star of The Apprentice more than the country’s’ top religious leaders.

When it comes to the fitness of both candidates, almost 90% believe Biden is too old compared to only 62% believing the same about Trump, despite the fact that they are only 4 years apart in age. And let’s be realistic here, with one octogenarian and one 3 years away from being one, aren’t they both old? Moving on.

Shedding light on what makes you look good

Coming back to the power that perspective has, it is all about using these numbers to your advantage. Trump is leveraging social media to manipulate public opinion and double down on stats advantageous to his cause. Do people think Biden is old? Post a video meme with goofy sound effects that capture Joe Biden in his less-than-favorable moments, while posing the question ‘is this presidential material?’ A question we will know the answer to on November 5th.

The Swift is in the house

Okay, but where does Taylor Swift come in? Her gravitas is undeniable. With 297 million followers on Instagram, she can be considered the reigning queen of a sizable nation. (The US population is 333 million as a quick comparison.)

And as the reigning queen, she has loyal subjects (known as Swifties) who would follow her every rule. There is even a poll to prove it! 18% of US voters would cast their precious vote exactly as T-Swizzle would tell them to. Meaning that she could effectively dictate the outcome of one of the most important elections in the world. Does this mean Taylor trumps both God and Trump now?

Set goals. Use data

But aside from reflecting polls in funhouse mirrors, making each other look bad, and using a court case as your direct line to voters, there is a ginormous well-oiled machine behind these political campaigns. Even behind that silly video of Joe Biden.

We argue that the most crucial data is knowing exactly who your audience is. That is why political parties in the US spend millions to have access to voter information on around 20,000 data points that show exactly who they are – from where they live, their phone numbers, what is their choice of party, ethnicity, down to who they voted for in previous elections.

One up your data

While you may not have such detailed access to your user base (in fact, we hope you do not), there are feasible and effective ways in which you can understand who is using your products and services.

Plus, crowdtesting gives you one better – you can know exactly how they are using them too. Crowdtesting offers companies the possibility to understand their customers better than ever before so they can better tailor their products to what users actually need.

Is AI a friend or foe?

The age-old question. In the political landscape it is probably a tricky one to answer.

Deep fakes are a major argument that can easily place AI in the ‘bad boy’ corner as it can distort the image of any given person in the public’s eye and hack the psyche of the voter. Is it ethical? For sure not. But it’s still legal. And we all know that in love, war, and politics, anything goes.

Yet how much of a difference deep fakes, ChatGPT, and any other AI systems make? A lot. A recent study shows that if we feed ChatGPT the right information it has the real power of changing minds. Is ChatGPT above Taylor Swift, Trump, and God now?