Friday 1 May 2009

New technology on the election trail


I’m returning to on-line canvassing. This is one of the most potent examples of using new technologies to influence behaviours in that most conventional of practices – casting a vote.

It has really got me thinking about how to effectively contact and engage with the masses but not with a ‘one size fits all’ mass media message. Here, surely, a very personalised message is needed.

Canvassing was traditionally about meeting people on the doorstep (and kissing babies and carrying shopping...). Astute candidates tailored the message to the feedback the householder gave them. Canvassing always took place in marginal seats where there were votes to be won – “getting the vote out”, the political parties called it. Little effort was expended by the other parties in safe seats.

So, how can the political parties make sure that the message they text you or place on You Tube will actually have resonance? It is in danger of being the e-equivalent of the leaflet which was chucked straight in the bin.

Even with the enriched data the party gathers through using web analytics (user logs tell you that so many hundred/thousand people have hit the area on tax reforms, for example) does not give a steer on what the receiver of the message has taken from the website. Providing a feedback section here is a must.

Is the visitor that sought after floating voter who has to be further persuaded with a follow-up text message? And is this then aimed at 30-50-year-olds who their market research tells them are most concerned about tax reforms, or is it opened out to a wider audience? And, anyway, is the mobile phone database full of supporters and the 'converted', so a message may be wasted on them anyway.

And, I wonder, if this asynchronous communication is the best way to establish if the receiver has really understood the message?

Barack Obama is the first president reckoned to have been elected by the power of an e-mail campaign. But here’s a note of caution to be heeded by politicians throwing all their efforts at the ‘new way’. It is already suspected that new communications technologies mean that receivers have so many sources of information that elites have less opportunities now to ‘control’ what people receive and digest.
The picture above is the Barony 'A' Frame - a monument to a traditional and largely disappeared industry - coalmining. I know the next election will be fought increasingly on-line but I think we'll still need traditional communications to fully engage with the electorate. The 'old ways' will not disappear totally, I suspect.

4 comments:

  1. I'm with you on the limitations of the indiscriminate and faddish use of You Tube, Twitter etc. I wonder, however, if the true impact of these innovations for public relations lies in how they can be linked with market research data and audience segmentation? Credit rating data, postcode profiles and other info readily available to large organizations are very powerful ways to isolate and define audiences. Social media tools can then be used to reach these groups on a seemingly informal basis and at low cost in comparison with old-fashioned advertising or time-consuming door knocking.

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  2. Yes, that's true but I still feel that a lot of work has to be done to really engage with individuals, then use these tools to disseminate the 'message'. After all, even grouping people together as market research does eg males aged 18-25, still makes a lot of assumptions about beliefs.
    Obviously, the post above is about canvassing for a general election, so in that instance I'd say a campaign announcement in broadcast and print media and on the party website needs to be followed by silent viewing in the 'blogoshpere' to get a feel for what people are saying and thinking, then responses tailored for local meetings involving the electorate.
    There's no magic formula!

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  3. I think it's important to remember that technology is just another tool in the marketeer's box--it isn't smart in and of itself.

    Barack Obama has been hugely successful at combining the old ways with the new, employing every possible means to draw his audiences closer and, more importantly, to get them to COMMIT to him in some way: by donating money or time, volunteering, canvassing neighbourhoods, handing out leaflets. A grassroots effort in local neighbourhoods, carried out on a national scale.

    Barack Obama's campaign website (www.barackobama.com)was/is red-white-and-blue (national colours) and inspirational: "I'M ASKING YOU TO BELIEVE. Not just in my ability to bring about change in Washington...I'm asking you to believe in yours." In essence, he drew a circle and invited people to step into it with him. And it became an enormous community, supported not just by the website, but also by 'Obama Everywhere' (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Twitter, Eventful, LinkedIn, BlackPlanet, Faithbase, Eons, Glee, MiGente, MyBatanga, AsianAve and DNC Partybuilder--the latter being the US national democratic party). 'Obama Mobile' was also used to gather up supporters, encouraging them to phone in, and those who wanted to get more involved could also go to http://my.barackobama.com via a button ironically labelled MyBO.

    Obama ran for president on a platform of 'change' and today his 'change' website (http://change.gov) still says 'thank you' and provides a link to his intended destination (www.whitehouse.gov) where he has clearly arrived. And he continues to ask for support, such as at www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Service-Coming-to-a-Town-Near-You

    This is not Barack Obama himself being so clever, although he obviously welcomes and depends on technology. This is a very well crafted, professionally produced and beautifully orchestrated marketing campaign that is based on a crystal clear vision of what it's intending to do: build a vast and continuing network of electoral, physical and emotional support.

    A one-off door-to-door, mail drop, phone campaign or spam can't do that. Nor can something like YouTube's Gordon in the garden.

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  4. Thanks for that really interesting breakdown of the campaign that got Barack Obama the keys to the White House.
    As you note, it was an all round, well-orchestrated 'holistic' campaign which covered very facet of what he was trying to do - shape opinion, change beliefs, cross racial divides and motivate a vast nation to get out and vote.
    He used technology very cleverly as a tool to do so. However, once again, it really was the power of his rhetoric and persona that got him up Capitol Hill, he just used the latest in communications tools to do so. But I still believe the most poweful tool of all was his voice.

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