Scan in Action

Scan aggregates ad competitive data to give clients a comprehensive view of the ad buying ecosystem. Users see ad competitive data mapped on their district, so they can see where their competitors are spending ad dollars and how their ad spend stacks up against the competition. They can also see ad data visualized in graphs and tables to get an overall sense of ad spending in their election and to dive in deep to see exactly how much their opponents are spending on what types of messages and in what formats. Ghazala Hashmi’s campaign used Scan during her 2025 bid for Virginia Lieutenant Governor.

During the crowded Democratic primary, Hashmi’s team tracked their competitors’ ad spending. The team knew Aaron Rouse’s base was in Norfolk, so they used Scan to ensure they had enough ad spending in that area to ensure Rouse didn’t widen the margin to the point of victory. On the other hand, Ghazala Hashmi and Levar Stoney both had strong support in the Richmond area, so Hashmi’s team needed to monitor Richmond spending to ensure they had an edge over Stoney.

The team also knew that their path to victory required matching Rouse and Stoney’s spending outside of the DC market, and then pouring any other ad spending into Northern Virginia. In the end, the Hashmi team outspent her opponents in the DC media market by around 25%, and outspent her opponents in almost every other media market, as well. This strategy ended up being critical to Hashmi’s tight victory: a one percentage point win over both Levar Stoney and Aaron Rouse.