ALGEBRA:

REAL LP APPLICATIONS
ALGEBRA B | GROUP 13
CELIA CALLE
JAVIER HERRERO
LETICIA LIZARRAGA

Introduction Material Methodology Results Conclusion

LINEAR PROGRAMMING (WITH SOLVER)

• Linear programming allows us to find resolutions to new practical cases that

arise every day in Business, Industry and Engineering
• In Business, LP can be applied to diverse areas as production management,
market research, marketing, logistics, finance…
• All this ambits have one thing in common – LP is a key tool on decision making

Introduction Material Methodology Results Conclusion

CASE STUDY:
MARKETING IN POLITICS
DECISION MAKING WITH LINEAR PROGRAMMING

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POLITICS MARKETING

• Politics is the art concerned with guiding or influencing people’s position with
governmental policies. It is all about sharing & spreading your ideas

• Best way to influence one’s ideas?  Marketing

• Marketing sells services, products… why not political parties?

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OUR FOCUS
Political Party

PreElections
Tasks

Prepare Select party Set an

electoral candidate/s electoral
program campaign

Selection of
advertising Meetings
media

General
campaign acts

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SETTING AN ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN

• SELECTION OF ADVERTISING MEDIA

• LP will allow us to optimaze our capital budget according to the restrictions
precised/stated & our main objective

• As a political party our main objective is to obtain the highest audience on

media watching/listening to our campaign spots with the lowest budget
possible
• ∆Audience=∆Potential Voters

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STARTING POINT

• Case Statement
• JCL Party is created and ready to hit the upcoming elections in Navarra region
• The main objective of JCL with its electoral campaign is to have as many
audience as posible
• JPL has to determine the media to be used in order to have the maximun
audience
• The capital budget for the campaign is 1.000.000€

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STRUCTURE OF THE CASE

• 1st step – Select the media we want for our campaign

• Television (Antena3 & Telecinco)
• Radio (Cope, Onda Cero & Cadena Ser)
• Advertising Mailshots (“buzoneo”)

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STRUCTURE OF THE CASE

• 2nd step – Real Data Recollection

(related to the media; such as audience rates, publication costs...etc)

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• REAL DATA COLLECTION

Excel

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STRUCTURE OF THE CASE

• 3rd Step – Organization of Data

Excel

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METHODOLOGY

• Once we have completed all the steps & set all the data, we start with the
mathematical model – identifying the LP elements:
a. Objective function
b. Set of constraints

Introduction Material Methodology Results Conclusion

METHODOLOGY

a. Objective Function
𝒎𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒇 𝒙𝟏 , 𝒙𝟐 , 𝒙𝟑 , 𝒙𝟒 , 𝒙𝟓 , 𝒙𝟔
= 𝟏. 𝟏𝟓𝟔. 𝟔𝟏𝟒𝒙𝟏 + 𝟏. 𝟖𝟕𝟕. 𝟗𝟓𝟎𝒙𝟐 + 𝟔𝟔𝟎. 𝟓𝟎𝟎𝒙𝟑 + 𝟒𝟒𝟔. 𝟓𝟎𝟎𝒙𝟒 + 𝟏𝟓𝟑. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝒙𝟓 + 𝟏. 𝟎𝟏𝟗. 𝟓𝟎𝟎𝒙𝟔

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METHODOLOGY

b. Set of Constraints
Maximize the audience…but under which restrictions?
Subject to:
𝑥1 ≤ 15
𝑥2 ≤ 10
𝑥3 ≤ 21
𝑥4 ≤ 17
𝑥5 ≤ 5
𝑥6 ≤ 18

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METHODOLOGY

c. What about the Capital Budget?

A budget is a restriction – we can’t spend more money than what we
have (1.000.000€)

14.750€𝑥1 + 20.500€𝑥2 + 10.990€𝑥3 + 12.440€𝑥4 + 90.000€𝑥5 + 11.215€𝑥6

≤ 1.000.000

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METHODOLOGY

• Once we have completed the previous steps, it’s time for Excel
• For LP, we will use Solver – an analysis tool

Introduction Material Methodology Results Conclusion

METHODOLOGY – PROBLEM CHARAC.

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METHODOLOGY - COEFICIENTS

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METHODOLOGY – FORMULAS

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METHODOLOGY – PARAMETERS

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METHODOLOGY – OPTIMAL & RESULT

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METHODOLOGY

Introduction Material Methodology Results Conclusion

METHODOLOGY

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RESULTS

• Therefore, the most effective way to distribute our capital based on the pre-
established conditions is:
• 15 commercials in A3
• 10 commercials in T5
• 21 spots in Cope
• 11 spots in Onda Cero
• 0 mailshots
• 18 spots in Cadena Ser

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RESULTS: INTERPRETATION

• What does that mean?

• The commercials in each media selected will maximize the audience
• This unique combination of inputs give us the highest amount of output
• In this case, the highest amount of audience  our main objective
• The resultant combination satisfies all the restrictions established, from the maximun
number of commercials per week to the capital budget

Introduction Material Methodology Results Conclusion

RESULTS

• With our selection of advertising media, more tan 70 million potential voters
will see/hear our commercials and spots

AUDIENCE = 73.261.710*

*: reference data, an approximate audience calculated by total of visualizations, not people

Introduction Material Methodology Results Conclusion

CONCLUSION

• According to Solver, to maximize the audience, JCL should post the maximun
spots allowed in A3, T5, Cope & Cadena Ser - they have affordable prices
for a high audience index
• Conversely, with the mailshots, we can see that they are not very profitable,
since they are not necessary (0). They have a high price and do not reach as
many people as compared to other media
• With Onda Cero, we are at midpoint – we should post 11 out of 17

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RESULTS – DIFFERENT SCENARIO

• JCL wants to use the full budget to avoid misappropriations or capital

deviations
• What would happen if we want to spend our full capital budget?

14.750€𝑥1 + 20.500€𝑥2 + 10.990€𝑥3 + 12.440€𝑥4 + 90.000€𝑥5 + 11.215€𝑥6

= 1.000.000

Introduction Material Methodology Results Conclusion

CONCLUSION

• Comparing it to the original scenario, we can see that all the commercial posts
have generally decreased (ex. A3 S1:15 / S2:14)
• …except the mailshots, which has increased by 1; with the capital Budget
adjust, maybe the mailshots were more suitable than other media, as Onda
Cero, which has also increased a little
• Related to the audience it has also decreased, by 9.194.064

Introduction Material Methodology Results Conclusion

CONCLUSION

• We can conclude by saying that LP is present in many aspects of real life, not
just in our math textbooks
• With the PL case and Excel, we can make rigorous and detailed reports –
very rapid but precise research that can guide us in decision-making, just a
few clicks before

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FINAL REMARK

In LP, using more capital does not mean a better result

In this case, the largest audience is achieved with 995.750€ not 1m
The restrictions are decisive:
Changing a ≤ by a = reduces the feasible results

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THANK YOU!

• All the Excel documents & information used are in the

attached file & video description
• Sources used:
https://politica.elpais.com/politica
http://www.publidifusion.com
http://www.oblicua.es/publicidad/publicidad-tv-television.htm
http://www.elconomista.es/audiencias
Datos Agencia EGM Generales (Resumen Año Móvil Feb-Nov 2017)

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