Unlike other presidents, lobbyists and special interest groups are having a lot of trouble trying to contact President Trump and his inner circle. As an outsider to the Washington political machine, Trump is beyond the lobbying system that has been used to gain the support of both Republicans and Democrats for decades. As a result, lobbyists and special interest groups have adapted to find new ways to influence the White House. Their tool of choice? A type of AdTech, or advertising technology, called Geofencing.
NERD NOTE: The term or “ad tech” or AdTech, is short for advertising technology. It is a broad term that covers a variety of digital advertising tools that help target advertising at specific audiences.
Geotargeting President Trump And His Inner Circle
According to Luke Mullins, Senior Writer for Washingtonian Magazine, lobbyists have started using Geotargeting and Geofencing advertising technology to help influence the White House. Essentially their goal is to reach a target audience of one: President Donald Trump.
President Trump is an outsider to the Washington political machine. So lobbyists and special interests have found new ways to reach him. Their innovative new methods…and how they may be a cause for concern, Sunday on Full Measure. #geofencing pic.twitter.com/BiQRreVg5c
— Full Measure News (@FullMeasureNews) May 17, 2019
Understanding The Difference Between Geofencing, Geo Cookies, and GeoTargeting
Geo– what? What is Geofencing, what are Geo Cookies and what’s the difference between geofencing and geotargeting? Understanding the unique features of these different location targeting advertising technologies can be a little confusing.
- Geofencing: Geofencing is the process of using advertising technology to draw an invisible barrier around a physical location with the intent of tagging location-aware devices inside the fence and then advertising to them. As soon as a device inside the geofence accesses an ad network, that device is then anonymously “tagged” in a database. An advertiser can then use a variety of advertising inventory to message targeted devices. Once a device has been tagged in a geofence, targeted advertisements can then be sent to that device anywhere it goes, even after it leaves the geofence
- Geo Cookies: Historical location data, called Geo Cookies, is also available up to a year or more after the device has been at a location.
- Geotargeting: Geotargeting uses either an IP address or a zipcode to target a device. Where geofencing focuses on the GPS locations of mobile devices, geotargeting can target any device connected via WiFi or Ethernet. Locations like the White House and Trump’s golf courses will have their own range of IP addresses.
NERD NOTE: Geofencing technology enables advertisers to create a virtual “fences” around locations that can tag location-aware devices, like smartphones, and deliver advertisements to these devices even after they leave the geofence.
Delivering Targeted Ads On President Trump’s Favorite Apps And Websites
It isn’t hard to figure out what President Trump’s favorite apps and websites are. He’s very vocal about his preference for news sites like FOX News. Although, as much Donald Trump hates CNN, he obviously spends a lot of time on their website reading their negative coverage about him. President Trump is also a very heavy social media user. Twitter is his social network of choice and he will often tweet 10-50 times per day, even while on vacation.
So when Roger Dow, president, and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, was unsuccessful in his attempts to contact President Trump using traditional methods, he turned to the lobbying-and-media-consulting firm S-3 Public Affairs for help. S-3 partner Amos Snead suggested turning to the AdTech industry and using geofencing technology to help contact President Trump and connect with his inner circle. Once they identified a list of target locations, they were then able to deliver super-targeted ads to their micro-target audience on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
From the White House to Trump’s golf clubs in Bedminster, New Jersey and Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Flordia, the President, and his top aides were being stalked with ads from the U.S. Travel Association about the benefits of foreign tourism in the United States.
Is Limiting Presidental Access Access Part Of Draining The Swamp?
One of the promises that Donald Trump made while running for President of the United States was to “drain the swamp” in Washington, D.C. from special interest groups and lobbyists. There’s a lot of debate from both sides whether or not he’s made any progress draining the swap. But by being outside normal Washington circles, it’s definitely harder for big-money influence to contact President Trump. Seeing Washington lobbyists turn to the AdTech industry for solutions on how to contact President Trump and influence his inner circle is entertaining, to say the least.
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