Company: Obama for America
Contact: Scott Goodstein, External Online Director for Obama for America
Location: N/A
Industry: Politics—Government
Annual revenue: Confidential
Number of employees: Confidential
Quick Read
Mobile marketing offers a sense of immediacy and intimacy that few other media can. Such timely connection is what the Obama for America Presidential campaign leveraged to establish deeper relationships with supporters, provide them with breaking news, and motivate them to become active contributors and promoters.
A first in American politics, it was likely the first mobile campaign to be launched on such a massive scale. And it proved an effective device for organizing and getting out the vote, thanks in large part to a targeted approach that turned a nationwide program into localized operations.
This study shows how the Obama for America campaign was able to establish an opt-in list of more than 2.9 million Americans and provide them with the tools and inspiration to get directly involved in the campaign.
Challenge
The Obama for America Presidential campaign was already well underway when it decided to engage in mobile marketing, because it couldn't ignore the channel's growing popularity.
"Over 80% of people have a mobile device according to the cellular communications industry," said Scott Goodstein, External Online Director for the Obama for America campaign. "That is critical mass."
Mobile also possesses distinct characteristics that the campaign thought would add value to its initiatives.
For example, since users typically carry their phones on their person (an average of 18-24 hours a day, according to Goodstein), mobile offered the ability to deliver breaking news and other timely information.
Mobile is also perceived as a more intimate form of communication, since users must opt in to receive messages, according to a Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) stipulation designed to limit spam. By definition, then, those who choose to participate are more receptive to messages received.
To best make use of these attributes, the campaign established a two-part goal for its mobile efforts:
- To quickly and efficiently distribute—and engage people with—up-to-date news and other information
- To encourage supporter action and involvement in the campaign
Goodstein also wanted to ensure that both of these elements tied back into the larger campaign goal of developing focused regional programs, which were helping the campaign gain ground on a state-by-state basis.
Campaign
The campaign leveraged several mobile channels for engaging supporters, distributing information, and encouraging participation:
An iPhone application: An interactive application was developed to provide iPhone application users an in-demand platform for accessing complete national election news coverage and campaign information, including photos and videos. Furthermore, it encouraged users to get involved and offered localized content, also providing directions to regional events and local campaign offices using Google maps and relying on the iPhone's triangulation and GPS capabilities.
The application also worked as a campaign address book that listed users' contacts by state and highlighted those contacts residing in key battleground states. An integrated leaderboard provided further encouragement for users to call their contacts; the board rater users according to number of calls they had initiated through the application. The application also enabled users to organize contacts based on voting intentions and reminded users to re-contact anyone classified as undecided.
A mobile Web site: A mobile phone (WAP) Web site was set up for mobile Internet browsers, especially designed so that news features and other information such as whitepapers could be easily read and forwarded "on the go." Fun features were also incorporated, such as the ability to download videos, ringtones, and wallpapers. In addition, users were encouraged to get out the vote with prompts such as "Let your voice be heard," "Give hope to your friends," and "Ask a friend to join Obama Mobile."
Toll-free hotlines: The hotlines were established to provide the public with an easy way to access timely, local information without an Internet connection. Callers were asked to identify their locales by ZIP code, then to select from a list of information requests, such as state registration deadlines, absentee-voting instructions, and directions to their local campaign offices. Requested information was also then sent by text to the caller's mobile phone, where it could be saved for future reference.
Texting
