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We are quickly approaching Election Day next month. Don’t worry, this post isn’t about whether you should vote for team red or team blue, this is all about how creative both teams have been in campaigning this election season.
In the blue corner, Obama’s team has come up with many technical marketing tactics in order to help his campaign. The first tactic that comes to mind was the text messaging Obama used early on in his campaign. If you were on his “text list,” you were an insider. You would be the first group to know who Obama’s vice presidential candidate was going to be.
While I was reading my favorite gadget blog, Gizmodo, I came across a posting talking about Obama’s free iPhone app. It takes advantage of almost every feature of the iPhone, while helping out Obama at the same time. It sorts your contacts by state! You can call all of your friends in Florida, for instance, to help out the Obama campaign. It makes a checklist for every person you called, and uses its GPS function to let you know current events that are happening near your contact so you can inform them about what’s going on. It also delivers video and news highlights to keep you updated. It even makes it easier for you to donate to Team O. Behind the functionality of it all, it has a cool blue-steel interface that gives it a modern, snazzy look. Now, whether or not you support Obama, you have to admit that it is one pretty cool, very modern approach to campaigning.
Obama has also taken advantage of social networking sites Facebook, MySpace, and his own, my.BarackObama.com. These have helped him raise a much greater amount of money through online users than McCain.
In the red corner, McCain has also had some marketing tricks up his sleeve. According to an August article in the Wall Street Journal, McCain has cunningly incorporated search engine marketing into his campaign. When searching for “Joe Biden”, or simply “Biden” on Google, the first sponsored ad that appears is in favor of John McCain. This was possible because he outbid Obama on the search term. Other search terms like “U.S. economy” and “housing crisis” also link to McCain’s site to show the searchers his plan of attack on those key issues. Unfortunately, Obama has not been bidding on key issues, or his opponent’s name for sponsored search results. Since July, McCain has had “15.1 million sponsored link impressions…compared with the 1.2 million for the Obama campaign,” according to Nielsen Online.
No matter whom you’re voting for in the 2008 election, you have to admit that the methods they’re using are better than any election we’ve seen before. These are just a few examples of how technology has helped change campaigning for the 2008 election. I can only imagine how many new ideas the candidates will come up with in 2012; maybe registering to vote through text, voting online, or iChatting with your favorite candidate because you gave the highest donation? There is an endless amount of possibilities in store for 2012.
Andy Brown graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in Marketing. Despite the fact that BIGSHOT is dominated by Missouri grads, Andy will remain committed to his KU roots, and promises to paste Jayhawk stickers all around the office at every opportunity. Other than being a KU fan, Andy has a passion for going above and beyond, and making exceptional work even better. Learn more about Andy.
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