How does a Presidential campaign target voters with ads online? In this episode, we talk to Megan Clasen of the Biden 2020 campaign about the role of digital political ads when campaigning in the US today. Listen to Megan discuss how the Biden 2020 campaign was able to target specific persuasion messages to the relevant voters and how digital political ads have evolved from her first campaign, Hillary Clinton's 2016 Presidential campaign, to working on JB Pritzker's campaign for the Governor of Illinois in 2018 to working for Kamala Harris and then Joe Biden's campaigns for President in 2020. Megan also discusses what it feels like to be on the frontlines of fighting misinformation on social media as well as her experience as a female entrepreneur by starting Gambit Strategies, a social media advertising consulting firm, this past year. 

Guest bio:

Megan Clasen recently started her own firm, Gambit Strategies, after working in digital advertising for over 10 years, from the largest brand advertisers in the country to multiple presidential campaigns, and all the way up and down the ballot. Most recently, she was a senior paid media advisor to Joe Biden’s campaign, leading their digital advertising work and executing the largest digital ads program ever run by a Democratic campaign. Prior to that, she led JB Pritzker’s digital efforts in his successful campaign for governor in Illinois, which Politico called “The Best Campaign Money Can Buy” and recognized as the “Best Online Advertising Campaign” at the 2019 Reed Awards.

Related links:

Gambit Strategies. https://www.gambitstrategies.com/

About the podcast:

How Tech Becomes Law is a weekly public interest tech podcast about technology, public policy, and career advice. We are your co-hosts, Jinyan Zang and Dhruv Gupta. Each episode uncovers insights from leaders in government, business, journalism, and academia to highlight how technology can be built in the public interest. Interviewees discuss how technology can move society forward, what role they play in shaping this, and how students and young professionals can impact the path forward.

We are supported by the Public Interest Tech Lab. Listen to us on your podcast platform of choice. You can find us online at howtechbecomeslaw.org and on social media channels @techbecomeslaw.