TIME - "What Does Meg Whitman's $120 Million Really Buy?" - She Can Tell YOU What YOU Want To Hear!

[TomCADem]

This is pretty impressive. Meg Whitman can micro-target her ads in a way where she can send a mailer praising Jan Brewer to white male middle age Californian and promising to lock-up California's borders, then send a mailer to his Hispanic neighbor next door celebrating diveristy and promising to support the DREAM Act.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2022523,00.html

Meg Whitman says she's running for governor of California to bring a sense of fiscal responsibility to Sacramento. But Whitman's own campaign isn't exactly what you'd call frugal. The former eBay CEO turned Republican politico has already pumped about $120 million of her estimated $1.3 billion personal fortune into the race.

* * *
A prime example is her effort to reach out to California's Latino population, estimated at 15% to 20% of the electorate. Faced with long-standing Latino suspicion of California Republicans, Whitman began advertising on Latino television and radio stations months ago. More recently, she has taken the unprecedented step of buying billboards and bus-stop advertisements in Latino communities.

The targeting gets even more specific than ethnicity. The Whitman campaign uses "microtargeting" software that helps tailor mailings and phone calls to voters on the basis of not just traditional factors like party registration but also polling and purchasable consumer data like magazine subscriptions and car ownership.

Also groundbreaking is a series of interactive television ads Whitman has been airing across the state. During the traditional pitch, a pop-up message appears on viewers' screens urging them to press a button on their remote control if they want a free Whitman bumper sticker. The cable provider passes along the addresses of viewers who play along — which not only gets them a bumper sticker but also adds valuable new entries into the Whitman campaign's voter-turnout database.

[Aramchek]

1. it won't have bought anything come election day

[DJ13]

2. a pop-up message appears on viewers' screens urging them to press a button on their remote control

We've had those ads here in Central Ca. since April or May.

Not just for bumper stickers, but to actually volunteer.

I have to say, that kind of interactive marketing is kinda creepy.

[TomCADem]

4. Meg Whitman Is Corporate Propaganda 2.0, They Can Tailor Their Lies To You

It reminds me of that scene from Minority Report. Soon, we will sit down and here Mitch McConnell telling us about their liberal record while the person sitting next to us will here these same candidates pledging to require people of color to show their papers on demand.

[tularetom]

3. I feel left out - she hasn't sent me nothin'

And I've never seen an interactive TV ad for her either.

All very high tech, but it can't disguise the fact that there is really nothing behind all the glitz and glitter. Just another gazillionaire who thinks having a ton of money makes them smart.

In another month we'll never have to look at her pasty pudgy face anymore.