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Yup. C4Chaos has it right.
Text messaging is not as popular in the U.S. as it is in Europe and Asia. But the Obama campaign understand the power of this technology to mobilize people. For instance, it was through the power of text messaging that the People Power in the Philippines had toppled the Estrada administration. The Obama campaign is now banking on the viral nature of text messages to mobilize people. I can already imagine text messages like this spreading like wildfire during election day: “C u @ d polls. wear ur Obama shirt, k?!”Obama and McCain’s big generational gap is reflected in the style of their campaign. McCain’s campaign is more traditional (e.g. town hall meetings, attack ads) while Obama’s is more tech-savvy (e.g. Twitter, Youtube, social networks, killer website, text messaging; see Obama’s Wide Web). If and when Obama wins the presidential race (which I believe he will), then a crucial factor could be credited to Obama’s embrace of millennial marketing–the same grassroots movement that won him the Democratic primary.
C4Chaos also linked to the post below which is the info as to why its genius.
In 2006, Mobile Commons’ platform was used in a study conducted by the New Voter’s Project, Princeton, and the University of Michigan. The results of the study were a wonderful surprise to us. In the table below, you can see cost per vote compared between various media:
| Tactic | Mobilization Effect |
Cost / Vote Generated |
| Text/SMS Messages |
4-5% | $1.56 |
| “Quality” Phone Calls |
4-5% | $20 |
| Door-to-Door Canvassing |
7-9% | ~$30 |
| Leafletting | 1.2% | $32 |
| Direct |
~0.6% | $67 |
Elections pivot on turnout and voter engagement. The main conclusion to be drawn from the table above: the more personal the communication, the more effective. The most personal form of communication, face to face interaction, has the highest mobilization effect. Text messaging is something mainly done with friends and—terse as it is—highly personal. For campaigns, mobile messaging provides one the most cost effective ways of engaging constituents with highly personal and interactive messaging. The Obama Campaign realized this and constructed the VP announcement to help them build critical mass with their mobile list.
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