Mintigo Unveils DNA Spotlight Report Results

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 23, 2012) - Mintigo today unveiled results from its DNA Spotlight, which revealed insights into words and topics favored by Republicans and Democrats this election season. Mintigo's Customer Search Engine™ scoured the websites of more than 500 U.S. House of Representatives candidates, scientifically evaluating the word clusters used by Republican and Democratic candidates.

Key findings from the "Mintigo DNA Spotlight Report":

• Republican candidates were more than twice as likely as Democrats to associate the words "budget," "taxes," "cut," "debt," "jobs," "balance" and "reduce."
  
  
• Democratic candidates were nearly two and a half times as likely as Republicans to associate the words "education," "Medicare," "seniors" and "veterans." Democrats' sites were also 50 percent more likely to use the terms "help," "support" and "join the campaign."
  
  
• Republican websites mentioned President Barack Obama 50 percent more often than Democratic sites.
  
  
• Democratic sites were 2.4 times more likely than Republicans to mention "job security."
  
  
• Social media mentions were low compared to the enterprise world. Only 75 percent of the Republicans' sites, and 74 percent of Democrats', reference or link to the word "Facebook." "Twitter" turned up on 64 percent of Republican sites and 62 percent of Democratic sites. Only 9 percent of each side promotes a presence on LinkedIn.
  
  
• Among all of their websites, less than half of the candidates were using Google Analytics, a common and free tool for analyzing website traffic -- 47 percent of Democrats and 49 percent of Republicans.
  
  

Tracing Party Lines with "Big Data" Analysis

To conduct the survey, Mintigo used its Customer Search Engine™. Designed to search the Internet for marketing prospects, the Customer Search Engine uses big data analytics to parse information on websites, social networks, and technology use. When we turned the Customer Search Engine toward the world of politics, it processed politicians' websites to identify common word clusters and compare frequency across Republican sites to that of Democrat sites.

True to their platform, Republican candidates were more than twice as likely as Democrats to associate the words "budget," "taxes," "cut," "debt," "jobs," "balance" and "reduce." Republicans' common use of the word "jobs" speaks to those who are unemployed or underemployed, aiming to win over those voters.

Democratic candidates were nearly two and a half times as likely as Republicans to cluster the words "education," "Medicare," "seniors" and "veterans." Moreover, Democratic sites are 2.4 times more likely to mention "job security." This may appeal to voters who are currently employed, a group of voters who might be more receptive to the idea of sticking with the Democrats' policies.

Democrats' sites also emphasized the idea of contributing. They were 50 percent more likely to cluster the phrases "help," "support" and "join the campaign." Meanwhile, Republican websites mentioned President Barack Obama 50 percent more often than Democratic sites, suggesting that a sitting president is a focal point for opposition energy.

Candidate Sites Lack Tech Savvy

Mintigo found that in spite of the verbal differences, both parties share a similar approach to marketing technology. In general, candidates' websites tended to lack technical sophistication. Google Analytics, a common and free tool for measuring website traffic, is in use on less than half of candidate sites -- 47 percent of the Democrats and 49 percent of the Republicans. More sophisticated tools were even less common. Also, both parties lag the business world in their embrace of social media. 75 percent of Republicans' sites, and 74 percent of Democrats', reference or link to "Facebook." The term "Twitter" appears on 64 and 62 percent of sites, respectively, and only 9 percent of each side mention "LinkedIn."

Predicting the Party

In the same way that Mintigo's Customer Search Engine helps marketers predict who will buy their products, it can also predict which candidates are Republicans or Democrats. This can be done automatically by computers parsing information on the web. "Normally Mintigo is used to find patterns for marketing, but of course political campaigns are a lot like marketing," says Dr. Jacob Shama, CEO of Mintigo. "Our big data technology sifts through all the unstructured data of the Web and discovers a unique fingerprint, or DNA."

This technology could be used to help candidates scientifically compare their use of language to that of their party or their rivals. More generally, the Customer Search Engine is useful to marketers all year round.

About Mintigo

Mintigo operates the world's first Customer Search Engine™, scanning the Web and social networks to provide marketers with a feed of prospects and campaign intelligence. Only Mintigo can analyze massive amounts of unstructured data on the Web to discover the unique CustomerDNA™ for any product. By discovering who is likely to buy today, Mintigo helps its customers send relevant, personalized campaigns, doubling campaign conversions and increasing revenue per customer. Mintigo is located in San Francisco and Tel Aviv. To learn more, visit www.mintigo.com.

Customer Search Engine™ and CustomerDNA™ are registered trademarks of Mintigo. All other registered and unregistered trademarks in this document are the sole property of their respective owners.