The current issue of Fast Company features interviews with six political strategists who study “what you eat, what you drive, and where you shop.” Microtargeting is either the new political buzz-word or a “must-have technology” for today’s campaigns, depending on who you talk to. But there is no doubt that these researchers are working hard to provide political insights to their candidates based on this kind of personal data.

Look Inside >> October 2008

Blaise Hazelwood is one of the six strategists profiled in All Politics is Micro, and she has created software tools to make this kind of targeting easier for political campaigns. Hazelwood developed the Voter Vault, the massive database used by the Republican National Commttee and is now devoting her energy to developing microtargeting tools. From her interview:

But sometimes micro-targeting isn’t user-friendly enough — a lot of campaigns get a book that explains it, and then that book goes on the shelf. I’ve built software that allows campaigns to understand their microtargeting data more easily. They can pull their own email and phone universes. The software will tell you, “These are the swing groups, these are the people most likely to turn out.” All the end users have to do is pick what groups they want to target. If you have the budget to only mail to 40,000 people, you can decide which group you want and enter into the calculator exactly what you want your numbers to be.

If you think political polling is getting pretty sophisticated these days, you’re right and these interviews shed some light on the latest techniques and technologies being used by political campaigns. Just click on the cover image above to get a free preview of this article on Coverleaf.com.