Demographics of the US presidential election results clearly show that Barack Obama managed to attract 66% of 18-29 year old and 68% of first time voters. There is almost certainly a significant overlap between these two groups and while there were multiple reasons why their members flocked to polling stations on Tuesday, one thing is certain. Call for turnout, call for change wouldn’t have the impact they had if it hadn’t been been for a clever and inventive use of modern communication technologies.
These days, car manufacturers introduce their upcoming models in PC and console games. Barack Obama doesn’t make cars but his campaign cleverly placed the “Early Voting Has Begun” ad into Burnout Paradise game – Electronic Arts, the game’s developer, accepted it as any other credible political ad. It didn’t have to get the policy message across, the important thing was that the kid who first spotted the ad gave his message a burnout start and set it speeding all over the Internet. Which very likely led many other kids saying “yeah, this Barack guy must be cool”.
Playing on the similar tune, Obama’s campaign released a motivational YouTube ad featuring a couch and a game controller. Opposable Thumbs, arstechnica.com‘s gaming offshoot, noted that until now, if computer gaming was referred to during a campaign, it was almost in a negative way. Only a day before voting, a new video ad came up, targeting technology sector. And there was, of course, an iPhone application Obama ’08 developed by a group of enthusiasts available for free via iTunes App Store. Barack Obama’s online presence was so ominous that even spammers abused his name six times more often than McCain’s.
John McCain and his proud admission that he can’t use the Internet and e-mails (with Sarah Palin’s e-mail fiasco) didn’t send a positive message to those portions of society that proved to be the decisive force, whether in the voting itself or in the mobilization efforts. Of course, Internet literacy and related issues were not important for the republican electorate, but that’s separate issue.
By grasping the opportunities of the new media political marketing, Barack Obama managed to create a user generated campaign, going by the Web 2.0 pattern, a Campaign 2.0. Yes, his team set up the agenda, the framework and provided the means. But the rest, he placed into his supporters’ hands and moved political campaigning to a completely new plane, the one which is totally appropriate for the 21st century policies and for the 21st century, post-bipolar world, way of leading a superpower.
(Written for World Business Press Online)
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