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Submitted by Industry Comment on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:18 |
As the dust begins to settle on America’s historical choice of its 44th President, Chris Lennartz, VP of Product Marketing at Airwide Solutions discusses how mobile messaging has helped Obama get there:
“November 4th 2008 will be remembered as one of the most important days in US history. It has broken down conventional barriers such as race and gender and has changed America's image of what presidential candidates look like - tearing up old, assumed stereotypes to make way for a new generation of political leader. To many of the young and politically-minded, this has been an inspiration. Indeed, no one put it better than Obama himself, triumphantly claiming that ‘change has come to America.’
But it is not only the candidates who are inspiring the young. Their campaigns are also ushering in a new way of engaging with the electorate.
Targeting the Younger Generation
For the first time in the US, text messages have played a key role in reaching voters, particularly those born of a generation where text messaging has become part of everyday activity - the under 30s. In an effort to reach out to this key age group, Obama developed a mobile page that allowed supporters to download ringtones and wallpaper, sign up for Twitter updates, and receive text messages with policy updates, campaign events and voting reminders; (a winner of the 160characters 2008 award for Messaging Application/Service: Public Sector/not for profit).
Innovation is key
Obama used the mobile medium in innovative ways. Whereas McCain used mobile phones for traditional telephone canvassing, Obama turned to the medium of messaging to promote new speeches, important TV appearances and major rallies. If he was campaigning in your area, he’d let you know.
His choice of Vice President, for example was announced via text message to some 3 million users on 23rd August this year, a move that was historic in the development of the humble text message. 2.9 million SMS messages were sent from his own mobile phone most of whom were sent to people under the age of 40.1
Innovatively the campaign also had the foresight to register a common short code (CSC) that numerically represents the word ‘Obama’ (62262). This code was used during the mobile message alert opt-in process and delivered subscribers issue-specific updates on subjects such as health care policy, education, and the war in Iraq.
Obama’s mobile campaign has been one that has worked at every stage. In New Hampshire, the Obama campaign sent its supporters three text messages over the course of the primary day to remind them to vote and to encourage their friends to vote. There, Mr. Obama won the 18-to-24-year-old bracket by nearly 40 points, the largest split of any age bracket.
The Power of the Humble Text Message
Text messaging has proved to be a powerful tool in getting American voters to the polls. It has reinvented the “get-out-the-vote†machines and at $1.26 per voter, has also proved a more cost effective alternative to traditional campaigning methods, such as automated calls and door-to-door canvassing (which cost around $20-$30 per voter).
In fact, a study by researchers from Princeton and Michigan Universities, together with the US Student Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) New Voter Project Mobile Voter and Working Assets found that text message reminders to new voters increased an individual’s likelihood of voting by close to 5 percentage points. This is an increase similar to ‘quality phone call’ reminders but at a fraction of the cost.
Text messaging has proved its worth. It helped initiate a record turn-out of voters - more than 28 million people in 34 of the 50 states. It is little wonder that many are heralding the humble text message as just one of the new tools that paved Obama’s way to the White House.â€
Chris Lennartz (pictured)
VP, Product Marketing,
Airwide Solutions
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