Every major technological change has also changed the way campaigns are run and the structure of the campaign headquarters. Television created media consultants, and the internet brought digital directors into the headquarters. Once we started leaning on databases, the people working with voter files, CRM systems and digital advertising moved from the edge of the operation to its centre. I still remember what a revolution it was when we set up the first internet department in a Serbian campaign headquarters, back in 2011. Suddenly the building held people whose job description had not existed five years earlier, while the press office carried on untouched. This text grew out of Miles Maftean’s analysis “Meet the Campaign AI Engineer” (Partisan Hub). His thesis struck me as correct but not sufficiently tested on terrain like ours, so I have extended it with data and with experience from the campaigns of the past year. Everyone is looking for the dragon in the wrong place The curre...

I tell every campaign team the same thing after every election: “Now comes the detailed analysis.” Winners announce it at the very press conference where they declare victory, to show they are serious people. Losers announce the same thing, to show they have drawn the lessons from defeat and that there is a plan for next time. It sounds logical, like standard procedure, something that goes without saying — like the campaign silence period or a properly completed polling board record. Yes, I tell everyone. And almost nobody actually does it. What usually happens is called an analysis but is in fact either a celebration or a wake, depending on the outcome. The winning team scatters and everyone goes on holiday, because why analyse something that, by definition, worked. The losing team dissolves even faster, because nobody wants to sit in a room and count their own mistakes out loud. I have told both sides, in vain, that every campaign of mine was better than the one before it precisely b...

  Svaka velika tehnološka promena menjala je i način na koji se kampanje vode i strukturu izbornog štaba. Televizija je stvorila medijske konsultante, a internet nam je u štab doveo digitalne direktore. Kada smo počeli da više koristimo baze podataka, ljudi koji rade sa biračkim spiskovima, CRM sistemima i digitalnim oglašavanjem preselili su se sa periferije štaba u njegov centar. Sećam se kakva je revolucija bila kada smo prvi u Srbiji uveli internet odeljenje u štab 2011. godine.  Tada su se u štabu pojavili ljudi sa opisom posla koji pet godina ranije nije postojao, ali je pres službe ostala netaknuta.   Ovaj tekst je nastao kao odgovor na analizu Milesa Mafteana „Meet the Campaign AI Engineer“ (Partisan Hub). Njegova teza mi je delovala tačno, ali nedovoljno testirana na terenu kakav je naš, pa sam je proširio podacima i iskustvom iz kampanja u poslednjih godinu dana.   Svi traže zmaja na pogrešnom mestu Trenutna rasprava o AI u kampanjama vrti se uglavnom oko n...

Republikanci su 2013. napravili najozbiljniju postizbornu analizu koju je jedna partija ikada uradila: sto strana, 36.000 popunjenih anketa i preko 50 fokus grupa. Zvala se „Growth & Opportunity Project". Deceniju kasnije, RNC je naručio novu jer prvu praktično niko nije primenio. To je cela priča o postizbornoj analizi u jednom pasusu. Problem nikada nije bio u tome što se analiza ne može uraditi. Problem je što se, i kad se uradi, retko ko posle nje ponaša drugačije. A kod nas se najčešće ni ne uradi nego se, u zavisnosti od ishoda, organizuje proslava ili parastos. Ovo je osamnaesti nastavak serijala o tome kako se kampanje vode. Ovoga puta o dokumentu koji svi obećaju na konferenciji za novinare, a skoro niko ne napiše. Ili još gore: napiše ga ali ga niko ne pročita.   Svakom štabu, posle svakih izbora, kažem isto: ‘Sad vam sledi detaljna analiza.’ Pobednici to najave na konferenciji na kojoj su objavili pobedu da pokažu ozbiljnost. Gubitnici to isto urade da pokažu kako s...