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Earlier today, at the Web Summit conference in Lisbon, Brad Parscale, the\u00a0digital director of Donald Trump\u2019s presidential election campaign, revealed much more about Trump\u2019s election campaign and the role that Facebook played in it.<\/p>\n
In conversation with renowned investigative journalist Michael Isikoff, Parscale also suggested that if anyone was seeking support from the Russian government during the campaign \u2014 or ignoring nefarious signs about Russian actors \u2014 it was the social media platforms, all of which were chasing the money.<\/p>\n
Isikoff started the interview by remarking on the Democratic wins in Virginia yesterday but quickly pivoted, asking Parscale what he understood about social media during the campaign season that the \u201cClinton campaign did not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parscale said that two things worked to his benefit: the recognition that \u201ceyeballs were moving to social media and mobile phones and devices in huge numbers\u201d and that he \u201chad a great piece of product that would resonate with Americans,\u201d meaning Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the right mix,\u201d he added. \u201cWhenever anybody is in marketing or advertising, it\u2019s a lot easier to sell an iPod than [its short-lived competitor] Zune.<\/p>\n
Parscale also shared more detail about the campaign\u2019s need to raise money \u2014 \u201cwhen\u00a0Donald Trump became the candidate, we didn\u2019t have any money other than Mr. Trump\u2019s money and I don\u2019t think he wanted to write all that check himself.\u201d And Parscale said he saw the need to \u201ccreate a grass-roots campaign and find millions of people to be our grassroots supporters.\u201d He said that Facebook \u201callowed us to do that in alarming numbers, very fast.\u201d In fact, he credited the Trump\u00a0 campaign\u2019s Facebook initiative with producing $280 million dollars, $100 million of which was then poured into targeted ads, on Facebook, with the help of Facebook employees.<\/p>\n
The employees \u201cweren\u2019t crafting ads,\u201d insisted Parscale. \u201cThey were there to help us support their platform.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook,\u201d he said, \u201cyou go spend $300 million [on advertising], [and] $100 million dollars on social media, [and] a lot of people show up at your office, wanting to help you spend that money on their platforms. Facebook would rather have me spend that $100 million on their platform. Twitter would rather me spend it there. Snapchat. Google They were all wanting to have that money. So teaching us and educating us how to to use that platform as best as possible was a good thing [for Facebook] to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isikoff went on to ask about claims Parscale has made that the campaign would produce and shoot out up to 60,000 ads that were targeted to specific audiences each day; he wondered how the campaign had done it \u2014 and why.<\/p>\n
Parscale\u2019s explanation probably won\u2019t surprise anyone in the programmatic ad world, though it might strike others, including the voters who were targeted, as surprising. \u201cWe had multiple programmatic buyers and platforms running across Facebook,\u201d said Parscale. \u201cWhat that would do is, sometimes, when you\u2019re trying to raise money, different people like different colors, people like different messages, [people like] long form, short form, pictures, images. You put those across each other and automate the construction of the ads, and your math goes up really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cmachine learning would auto-remove those underperforming ads,\u201d he continued, \u201cand that\u2019s what would drive the ability for us, for the first time in history, to generate more than $1 dollar in donations for less than a $1 spend on the ad. That provided the surge of revenue that allowed us to compete in the general election.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of the rest of the talk centered on politics, with Isikoff asking if Parscale regrets putting forward a candidate who promised voters that he\u2019d repair their roads and bridges, and who has \u201cdone none of that,\u201d said Isikoff. (\u201cHe has a lot of time still,\u201d said Parscale of Trump. \u201cHe\u2019s working on\u00a0 tax reform right now. American people want more money in their pocket.\u201d)<\/p>\n