Microtargeting in Canadian Politics
By Mitch Wexler
being used. It is an interesting read for backroom strategists and fans of American politics, but how can these tactics, and the prin- ciples behind them, apply to campaigns north of the border? Is it possible to do so, or does the Canadian privacy regime and the lack of detailed household data make it an unattainable goal?
T In this article, we examine the differences between condi-
tions in the U.S. and Canada, and the emerging opportuni- ties to use demographic, lifestyle, and behavioural data in our campaigns. The most important thing needed for microtargeting ef-
forts is data. We need information about people, where they are found, what they are interested in, and how they are in- fluenced. The strategy is determined through research about people, their voting patterns and other behaviours; that re- search is then applied by finding the people in the target group and communicating a specific message to them. U.S. campaigns have the advantage of resources that sim-
ply are not available in Canada. With a population ten times ours, elections everywhere
you sniff, and without stringent limits on campaign fund- raising or spending, the American marketplace has ensured much more development of microtargeting tools and tech- nologies than we have in Canada. Consumer databases with information specific to people
or households often provide detailed data allowing cam- paigns to do direct mail or calling campaigns, addressing people by name and with a message that specifically identi- fies information about them. Canadian information at the household level is sketchy at best, and at worst nonexistent - usually a poor attempt by large data companies to sell what little Canadian content they have. Privacy laws now in place effectively prevent further collection of this type of data for the purpose of selling it. Thus the most robust databases in Canada -- think of Air Miles as the most obvious example of accumulated information about specific people -- are simply
he inaugural Canadian issue of Campaigns & Elections included an excellent article on microtargeting in U.S. election campaigns, and the new, more advanced methods
not allowed to be sold with data identifying individuals. On the research side, exit
polls are commonplace outside American voting stations and voters do not feel intimidated by spending 20 minutes com- pleting detailed questionnaires. The data collected - even if it’s not perfectly proportional to each candidate’s vote - allows researchers to analyze what type of people voted for each candi- date, and is a large part of the
knowledge base on voting patterns by race, gender, income, and other demographics. In Canada, however, we do not have an exit poll culture. While they are not specifically pro- hibited by election law, they cannot be published until after voting closes, cannot be conducted in the area identified as a voting location, and perhaps most importantly, Canadians tend not to want to divulge their vote or spend the time to complete the lengthy survey. While it is certainly not as easy and information not as plentiful, there has nevertheless been progress in Canada towards accumulating research and producing usable micro data.
Household level data may not be readily available, but
there is still a significant amount of information out there including Canada Census, consumer spending and other hard data, as well as quality research that together with smart analytics can help us paint a fuller, and more detailed, picture than we have had in the past. Demand has been increasing by Canadian companies want-
ing to target their marketing dollars and messages to particular types of people, specific ethnic groups, or other segments in order to reach new customers. Data providers like Mani- fold Data Mining Inc. have detailed demographic, consumer spending, lifestyle, and psychographic data for every six-digit postal code, and can perform predictive analytics on client da- tabases to determine the type of consumer to attract. Retail companies that collect your postal code can turn to Manifold to get powerful demographic analysis of their customers and a highly targeted marketing campaign plan. The difference with the Canadian data is the lack of spe-
June 2010 | Campaigns & Elections 45
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