Campaign Trend Podcast

Scott Brennen, Head of online expression policy at the University of North Carolina’s Center on Technology Policy, discusses the current state of AI in political ads, potential harms and benefits, challenges of regulating technology, using policy experiments to understand AI's impact, and recommendations for protecting campaigns from AI-related harms.

Sean Topham, co-founder of Topham Guerin, discusses the surprising electoral success in New Zealand and the strategic importance of TikTok in their campaign. They explore the role of TikTok, its unique features for political messaging, and the need to adapt to a video-centric strategy.

Have a question, comment, idea or suggestion? Send us a text.On this episode, we’re taking a look back at the stories that shaped the world of digital politics in 2023 and are setting the trends as we head into 2024. These are the stories I drew from Learn Test Optimize, my weekly newsletter on all things digital politics. Subscribe at LearnTestOptimize.com if you aren’t already. I’m joined today by Mitchell Porwoll, Digital Strategist at Invictus Strategies, a new fundraising firm. He was previously head of marketing at WinRed.Visit our website: CampaignTrend.com

Have a question, comment, idea or suggestion? Send us a text.Our guest is Bob Maranto, he’s the 21st Century Chair in Leadership in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. He’s a founding member of the Society for Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences. In our conversation today we discuss the field of political science and the effect of polarization in academia on political science.Visit our website: CampaignTrend.com

Have a question, comment, idea or suggestion? Send us a text.Our guest today is Robert Moran. He’s a futurist, a management consultant, and a pollster. He began his career in political consulting and polling. He recently wrote a fascinating article at Campaigns & Elections about a thought experiment where an AI runs for office. In our conversation, we dive deeper into his vision of an AI politician, what it would mean for our politics, and more near-term impacts of AI in campaigns.Visit our website: CampaignTrend.com

Have a question, comment, idea or suggestion? Send us a text.**Support the Business of Politics Show by becoming a member for just $10 per month (click here)**Today we’re speaking with Ryan Lyk, CEO of WinRed, the official secure payments technology designed to help Republican candidates and committees raise more money and win. Since launching in 2019, WinRed has processed more than three billion dollars. Ryan has been with WinRed from day one and became CEO in March of this year. Before that he worked on the agency side helping candidates with their digital campaigns. During our conversation we learn about WinRed’s latest features, what campaigns can do to take advantage of them, and what Ryan sees on the horizon for online fundraising.Visit our website: CampaignTrend.com

Have a question, comment, idea or suggestion? Send us a text.Sylvie Légère is a civic leader, social entrepreneur, and advocate for women in Leadership. She’s the founder of Candidate Pathways, a software platform to help political organizations with candidate recruitment by building, tracking, and developing a pipeline of candidates to run for office.In our conversation we discuss the challenges of candidate recruitment, how software can help political organizations tackle the problem, and what Sylvie’s learned about the business of politics with Candidate Pathways. Visit our website: CampaignTrend.com

Have a question, comment, idea or suggestion? Send us a text.We’re joined today by Caitlin Huxley, a campaign strategist, certified project manager, and history buff with a passion for empowering new candidates to overcome challenges and achieve success in their campaigns. She’s also an author, and her new book is Ancient Wisdom for Modern Campaigns: Lessons from Sun Tzu’s Art of War. In our show today, we dig into why this text is still relevant thousands of years after being written, what campaigners can take away from Sun Tzu’s most famous sayings, and where strategy and tactics meet on the trail.Visit our website: CampaignTrend.com

Have a question, comment, idea or suggestion? Send us a text.We’re diving into the current state of affairs for political programmatic advertising. Where do major tech platforms stand in terms of their policies on campaign ads, what alternatives exist, and what can campaigners do to prepare for further disruptions?Joining us to discuss this and more is Matt Hedberg, the COO of RepublicanAds.com – our sponsor for this episode. Republican Ads is the only self-service voter targeted digital advertising platform built for conservatives by conservatives. We interviewed co-founder Andy Yates during an earlier episode of the podcast – listen here.Visit our website: CampaignTrend.com

Bubba Atkinson, Co-founder of Monarch Media Ventures, discusses the gap in political media, the rise of niche content, the impact of technology, and the evolution of online fundraising in the political media industry.