It's no secret that Google and Facebook are tracking and selling their users' information for marketing purposes. However, it may come as a surprise that campaigns have been successfully using microtargeting since 2004 to change election outcomes. Political parties extract data from internet users, then sort them into smaller and smaller segments based on demographic and browsing histories, targeting messages that directly relate to what they've been doing online. These segments are so precise that people within the same household will get different ads.

Public Relations firms have been working in the United States and the UK on behalf of governments across the Middle East. What is the job of these PR companies? And how do they justify working for repressive regimes, even as they fall? BBC correspondent, Gabriel Gatehouse, has been reporting on PR companies that are working for governments across the troubled region.

Politicians and their advocates will spend upwards of $4 billion on ads in this mid-term election cycle, according to Thom Mazloom, founder of the M Network, a communications and branding company.

While its connection to St. Patrick is tenuous, at best, fans of the the Shamrock Shake herald its annual return with glee (and green food dye). Can't find any near you? Learn how to make your own!

Viral marketing campaigns have changed the way the entertainment industry lures audiences. For the TV show "True Blood," for instance, the ad campaign that generated buzz was an effort to mobilize support for a (fictitious) Vampire Rights Amendment. The Takeaway is joined by one of the people behind the "True Blood" campaign, Steve Wax, a managing partner at Campfire ad agency, and Brian Morrissey, Digital Editor for Ad Week magazine.

Watch a video featuring the Vampire Rights Amendment viral ad campaign:

President Obama is aggressively selling his health care plan to both the American people and the U.S. Congress. On Tuesday the House unveiled its health care reform bill and yesterday the Senate got its plan through committee—by a slim margin. Both plans guarantee insurance for most Americans. But they raise taxes on high-income people while providing subsidies to Americans at moderate-to low income levels. Both plans also penalize employers who do not provide health benefits to workers. For a look at how the president is selling the plan, The Takeaway talks to Celinda Lake, a Democratic strategist and the president of Lake Research.

Here is one way the plan is being sold—Heartfelt advertising: