Campaigns keep pouring money into broadcast TV while their voters are on YouTube, and targeting people too narrowly can backfire. Digital strategist Colin Delany has watched every new political technology arrive since the mid-1990s, and he explains which ones actually changed how campaigns win.
Colin is the founder of Epolitics.com and the author of How to Use the Internet to Change the World. We cover the three shifts that mattered most (online video, data-driven field and targeted advertising), why "you can microtarget yourself to death," what AI really changes, why trusted messengers beat disinformation, and how to convince donors to fund infrastructure a year out instead of at the last minute.
CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open: why the money still goes to TV
02:19 Which technologies actually changed campaigns
07:04 You can microtarget yourself to death
11:11 What Obama's field operation knew that 2016 forgot
17:37 Inertia plus incentive: the broadcast TV problem
21:03 What AI really changes (and what's overhyped)
26:40 Trusted messengers and relational organizing
34:57 Funders like to fund shiny things
41:29 Reward people for giving you time
49:08 Making the case for infrastructure
54:35 What political pros still misunderstand
58:20 Advice for people starting out
LINKS
Show notes and video: https://thecampaignstrategist.substack.com/p/colin-delany-microtarget-yourself-to-death
Epolitics.com: https://www.epolitics.com
The Campaign Strategist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCampaignStrategist
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