Meet the techie who devises digital poll campaigns over a round of golf

Bhargav Patel's firm IQM uses programmatic advertising, an AI-based technology to deliver the right message to the right voter

Digital advertising during the time of India's ongoing general elections has become more popular than ever. It is now not just about that dress or shirt that caught your fancy and now follows you everywhere on the Internet, but also about bombarding you with messages, videos or other content that fits in with or influences your political choices. 

Politicians worldwide, including those in India, are increasingly using technology to elevate their position by reaching out to voters, especially young, first-time voters who are extensive users of online platforms and apps outside of the more mainstream Facebook, Twitter or Google. 

Realising the need to serve this market, IQM, which calls itself a data management platform, looks solely at politics. The firm's USP is its ability to help political campaigns target audience more precisely, and get a clearer picture of how voters react to media, messages, and ads viewed across devices. 

"Back in 2014, we started off as an advertising platform equipped to cater to all sectors. At that point in time, we had a mutually benefiting partnerships with leading political data players. During our work with them, we observed a gap in the political marketing landscape and that prompted us to seize the opportunity," said Bhargav Patel, CEO, and co-founder, IQM. 

What is programmatic advertising?

At the heart of what IQM does is programmatic advertising, which involves automating the ad buying and selling process for ads. 

According to technology reference website whatis.com, "Programmatic advertising is a system that automates the processes and transactions involved with purchasing and dynamically placing ads on websites or apps. Programmatic advertising makes it possible to purchase and place ads, including targeted advertising content, in less than a second."

Ads are placed through an auction system that manages transactions between the site or app publisher and the advertiser. Through automated processes, advertisers bid for the impression (a single view of an ad by a single individual) based on its perceived value, according to established criteria, whatis.com further explains. 

Targeted political advertising gained notoriety last year when Cambridge Analytica shut down after it came to light that the analytics firm had harvested Facebook user profiles to sway voters through online ads and influence the outcome of Brexit and the US Presidential Elections. 

Programmatic advertising however, works on anonymised data sets, says Patel. The underlying technology, of course, is artificial intelligence and data science. 

"Artificial Intelligence is very crucial in understanding the content and delivering the right messaging to the right voters. We apply AI to identify voter mindsets that help our clients drive intelligent campaigns by delivering the right messages to the right voters at the right time. AI helps us create intelligent campaigns that are essential for success," he added. 

IQM's AI-driven models help political parties measure and influence voter mindset. This helps empower campaigns to make more informed decisions on messaging, frequency, and where to publish a candidate’s digital content.

A year after being set up by Patel along with his classmates, IQM worked on its first campaign for Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Iowa Caucus. This was followed next year by campaigns for other issues and candidates such as the National Climate Change March and Phil Murphy’s NJ Race for Governor. 

It is now is partnering with Indian parties for their political campaigns and helping candidates develop more compelling messages across the entire digital landscape, targeting their base intelligently enough to persuade voters to go to the polls.                                                   

While digital ad spends on politics are still much lower than print or television, Harish Shriyan, chief executive officer, Omnicom Media Group India had told Business Standard earlier this year that digital advertising was seeing double-digit growth year-on-year in India. The segment, he had said, was already worth Rs 10,000 crore and could touch Rs 25,000 crore in the next three years. 

Is it difficult to deal with politicians, not known to be as professional as their corporate counterparts? Patel disagrees, and finds his 16-18 hour work days "really fulfilling". 

"It's about finding the right balance between your work and personal life. I love to travel and indulge in golf—and my work allows me to find the perfect synergy. Most of my business meetings are usually on the golf course and travel is an integral part of my business," he said. 

Going forward, IQM is working towards advancing into other sectors as well, but for now, it is happy with its political ambitions.