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Brad Parscale

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Brad Parscale
Parscale in November 2017
Born
Bradley James Parscale

(1976-01-03) January 3, 1976 (age 48)
Topeka, Kansas, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Texas, San Antonio
Trinity University (BS)
Political partyRepublican
SpouseCandice Blount
Children1

Brad Parscale (born January 3, 1976) is an American digital media and political strategist. He served as the digital media director for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Parscale began working for the Trump Organization in 2011, developing and designing websites and creating and managing digital media strategies. In early 2015, Trump hired Parscale and his firm, Giles-Parscale, to create a website for his exploratory campaign. When Trump declared himself a Republican candidate in 2015, one of the first people he called was Parscale, asking him to update his exploratory campaign site into a "full-fledged presidential campaign website."[1] Throughout the Republican primary, Parscale was responsible for the Donald J. Trump for President website, as well as for digital media strategy and online fundraising campaigns. In June 2016, Parscale was officially named digital media director for the Donald J. Trump for President campaign, overseeing all aspects of digital media and online fundraising, as well as traditional media strategy, like radio and television placements.[2] In January 2017, Parscale, along with another senior Trump aide, Nick Ayers, formally launched America First Policies, a non-profit organization that promotes President Trump's agenda and White House initiatives.[3] On February 27, 2018 President Trump named Parscale his 2020 re-election campaign manager.[20]

Early life and education

Parscale was born in Topeka, Kansas. His father, Dwight Parscale, was an assistant attorney general and ran for Congress at the age of 28. He owned a restaurant and later became the CEO of NewTek, a Topeka-based company (now located in San Antonio, Texas) that creates live and post-production video hardware and tools, as well as visual imaging software for personal computers. His mother, Rita Parscale, was a small business owner. Parscale attended Shawnee Heights High School in Tecumseh, Kansas and moved to Texas before his family to attend college. His father, while visiting, decided to move NewTek to San Antonio.[4]

Parscale showed interest in computers while still young. He once discovered a glitch in a program and engaged Microsoft support all night over the phone to resolve the issue.[5] Growing to 6’8”, Parscale played basketball in high school, then attended the University of Texas at San Antonio on an athletic scholarship.[6] An injury ended his sports career early.[5] Later, he attended Trinity University in San Antonio where he earned a degree in finance, international business and economics in 1999.[7]

Pre-Trump career

After graduating from Trinity, Parscale moved to California and worked as a sales and marketing director, selling CGI software for five years. After the dot.com bust, he returned to San Antonio, investing $500 to establish Parscale Media in 2004,[8] where he gained clients by soliciting customers at Barnes and Noble looking at web development books, through the Yellow Pages and online for businesses in San Antonio that he thought needed a web presence. In 2011, he partnered with Jill Giles of Giles Design and together, founded Giles-Parscale, a San Antonio branding, design, digital media, website and marketing firm. Parscale also co-founded TechBloc, a San Antonio-based organization focused on building and expanding technology, as well as attracting and retaining professionals in the technology field.[9]

2016 Trump campaign

In 2011, Giles-Parscale was brought into the Trump Organization, with Parscale being considered a "digital guru",[10] to provide website design and development — and digital media strategy — for Trump International Realty.[1][11] Parscale continued his business relationship with the Trump Organization, providing digital media services to Trump Winery and the Eric Trump Foundation.[12] In early 2015, Giles-Parscale was hired to create a website for President Donald Trump's exploratory campaign, charging $1,500 for the site.[13] Through the entire election cycle, Giles-Parscale was paid $94 million by the Trump campaign.[14] In 2016 Parscale was named the campaign's digital director.[10]

Parscale utilized social media advertisements with an experiment based strategy of different face expressions, font colors and slogans like "Basket of Deplorables."[15] Parscale's specific roles included heading the oversight of the digital advertising, TV advertising, small dollar fundraising, direct mail, political and advertising budget, and was also the RNC liaison working daily with Katie Walsh who was then the Republican National Committee's chief of staff. He was also the head of the data science and research, which included polling. Parscale claims that after realizing Virginia and Ohio were unable to be swayed, he decided to re-allocate the campaign resources to Michigan and Wisconsin. This shift included the decision to send Trump to Michigan and Wisconsin and focus efforts heavily on the two states. This decision was instrumental in winning the election as Trump won both the historically democratic states.

Parscale utilized Facebook heavily for the campaign advertisements and staffed Facebook employees to help them navigate the Facebook platform to utilize all of the platform's capabilities. Parscale did not have data scientists or any digital team during the Republican Primary and did much of the social media advertising from his home.[16] He would also stage competitions between tech companies to drive the lowest cost of buying on Facebook (programmatic) as well as other platforms.

Parscale was able to utilize Facebook advertising to directly target voters in swing states. Parscale cited the example on 60 Minutes that he was able to target specific universes (audiences) who care about infrastructure and promote Trump and his message to build back up the crumbling American infrastructure. Parscale utilized Facebook and social media to directly target voters in a much more extensive effort in comparison to the Clinton Campaign.[16] As Parscale stated during his 60 Minutes interview:

I understood early that Facebook was how Donald Trump was going to win. Twitter is how he talked to the people. Facebook was going to be how he won.[17]

The Trump campaign initially had solely Donald Trump's personal funding to back his campaign. Parscale set up a major grassroots campaign on Facebook that brought in funding quickly from across the U.S.[18] Parscale attributed the success of his vast social media presence to using the assistance offered by companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Google. He said that because the Trump campaign intended to spend $100 million on social media, companies in that area were prepared to assist the campaign in using that money effectively.[18]

“The campaign poured money into Facebook, sending thousands of versions of tweaked ads to maximize response. Then it won the presidency by a margin narrow enough that Parscale (and Facebook) can justifiably take credit.”[19]

— Philip Bump, The Washington Post

The database of voter information that drove Parscale's social media advertising campaigns in the 2016 election was dubbed "Project Alamo", a name which eventually encompassed all of the associated fundraising and political advertising efforts.

2020 Presidential election

On February 27, 2018 President Trump named Parscale his 2020 re-election campaign manager.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b Thomas, Mike W. (June 25, 2015). "You're hired! Local firm tapped to build Donald Trump for President website". San Antonio Business Journal. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  2. ^ Bykowicz, Julie (October 6, 2016). "A fan of the cyber: Donald Trump is just now pouring lots of money into digital data". Salon. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  3. ^ Gold, Matea (January 30, 2017). "Trump allies launch nonprofit to support the administration's agenda". Washington Post. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  4. ^ Nowlin, Sanford (August 17, 1997). "NewTek relocating to San Antonio". San Antonio Business Journal. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Schallhorn, Kaitlyn (February 27, 2018). "Who is Brad Parscale, Trump's 2020 campaign manager?". Fox News. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  6. ^ "Three Reasons Trump Chose Brad Parscale to Run His 2020 Campaign". Bloomberg.com. February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  7. ^ Svitek, Patrick (August 25, 2016). "Meet the San Antonio Tech Guru Who's Leading Trump's Digital Charge". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  8. ^ "Trump Digital Director Brad Parscale Explains Data That Led To Victory on 'Kelly File'". Real Clear Politics. November 16, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  9. ^ Lorek, Laura (May 20, 2015). "A Technology Revolution is Brewing in San Antonio". Silicon Hills News. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Trump unveils re-election campaign chief". BBC News. February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  11. ^ Schwartz, Ian (November 16, 2016). "Trump Digital Director Brad Parscale Explains Data That Led To Victory on 'Kelly File'". Real Clear Politics.
  12. ^ Lapowsky, Issie (August 19, 2016). "The Man Behind Trump's Bid to Finally Take Digital Seriously". Wired. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  13. ^ Green, Joshua; Issenberg, Sasha (October 27, 2016). "Why the Trump Machine Is Built to Last Beyond the Election". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  14. ^ Matea Gold and Anu Narayanswamy (January 31, 2017). "Trump already has socked away more than $7 million for his 2020 reelection". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  15. ^ Pramuk, Jacob (October 9, 2017). "Trump's digital director explains how he used Facebook to help win the White House". CNBC. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  16. ^ a b "Parscale: TV news "thought I was a joke"". Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  17. ^ "Facebook staff worked INSIDE the Trump campaign". Mail Online. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  18. ^ a b Ellyatt, Holly (November 9, 2017). "How I helped get Trump elected: The president's digital guru". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  19. ^ Bump, Philip (October 9, 2017). "Analysis | '60 Minutes' profiles the genius who won Trump's campaign: Facebook". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  20. ^ Bash, Dana (February 27, 2018). "Trump taps Brad Parscale to run his 2020 re-election campaign". CNN. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
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