the first “internet election” and the billion dollar campaign refresh cape cod cape cod...
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The First “Internet Election” and the Billion Dollar Campaign
Refresh Cape CodCape Cod Community College
November 19, 2008
Epic Scale
• 150,000 campaign-related events • 35,000 affinity groups • 1.5 million accounts on my.BarackObama• Email list of 10 million supporters• over 3 million donors, many of whom donated
through the web. • 2.9 million text-message addresses• 4 million uniques on voteforchange.com• 1,110 videos on YouTube
Money money money money
• $639 million contributed• $573 spent• $5.3 billion spent on Presidential and
congressional races
• $1 billion spent on the Presidential race– Enough to run 4C’s for over 44 years– Enough to fund the Barnstable public schools
for 16 years
Evolution
• McCain: 1999 targeted banner ads• Dean campaign: Blue State Digital; meetup.com;
organize meetings and fundraise• Catalist: Clinton campaign (Harold Ickes),
MoveOn, Rock the Vote; 15 terabytes• VoterVault: RNC, Rove• Romney: salesforce.com• Voter Activation Network (VAN): descended
from 2001 project for Tom Harkin
• Fundraising
• Viral and mass-media messaging
• Organizing and group-building via “participatory” Web 2.0 tools
Goals
• My.BarackObama.com• Databases• Social networks• Mobile• Collaboration tools• Volunteer/field ops management apps• Other
Components
• Blue State Digital– Community development and social networking
• Lead generation and tell-a-friend• Peer-to-peer fundraising
• RightNow Technologies: on demand CRM software and services
• Voter Activation Network: web-based, distributable voter database system
• Central Desktop: field operations management• MyBo: social networking and social action
campaign site• “Neighbor to Neighbor” volunteer/field operations
management tool• “The Donkey” volunteer management system
The Website (my.Bo)
myBarackObama.com LAMP
RightNow project– Invite Barack: email response system to
attend local events– Obama Answer Center– Uses web analytics to track voter concerrns
Group-building, create connections to potential voters– Online campaign tools (voter contact)– Voter Registration– Get-out-the-vote– Online action groups to counter whisper campaigns
and robo-calls
Volunteer Organization– Recruitment and training– Gave individuals tasks they could follow on
their own schedules– Database updates– Performance feedback to campaign staffers
“Traditional” web-based– Fundraising– Email lists– Event announcements– Store– Blogs
Databases
• data-mining and mapping• data updating• identify and attract potential voters • boost absentee-ballot registration• customize candidates' messages on issues• plot get out the vote canvassing routes • targeted, personalized e-mails and letters • "predictive dialing" system
• Voter Activation Network (VAN)– Somerville– 7 years in development– Merged numerous independent, siloed
databases– online data management tool; – replaced DataMart and Demzilla; – uses VoteBuilder, Party Builder interfaces– ASP.NET
"VoteBuilder is part of our ongoing efforts here at the DNC to ensure that our Presidential nominee in 2008, and candidates and campaigns at all levels have unparalleled voter outreach tools," said DNC Chairman Howard Dean. "This new technology … will help ensure our success in future elections."
Social Networks
• A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others.
• Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.
• Social networking has created new ways to communicate and share information.
• Social networking websites are being used regularly by millions of people, and it now seems that social networking will be an enduring part of everyday life.
• The main types of social networking services are those which contain directories of some categories (such as former classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and recommender systems linked to trust.
“We are what we click”Social networks are now
more popular on the internet than porn.
Bill Tancer Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why It Matters
Stats
• 4 times as many Facebook supporters, MySpace friends and YouTube subscribers
• 240 times as many Twitter followers
• 2.0 million video streams in September
• Second Life “largely ignored”
1,997 NH Voters
Total
Under 30
Over 30
Visited their home page 40% 52% 28%
Read their blog 33% 43% 23%
Visited their profile page on a social network 26% 36% 15%
Registered/joined their site 24% 32% 16%
Signed up for e-mails or text messages 22% 37% 11%
Watched a video 19% 24% 14%
Posted a comment 19% 25% 13%
Linked to their news feed 21% 30% 12%
Download a application/image/etc. 12% 16% 9%
Bought campaign products from online store 5% 4% 5%
Donated money online 7% 5% 9%
Watched a televised debate or news coverage and analysis of a debate 51% 41% 60%
Watched a candidate interview on TV 32% 22% 43%
Watched TV programming, like political talk shows, about the candidates 40% 29% 51%
Personally attended a fundraiser 9% 4% 14%
Personally attended a rally or campaign event [non-fundraising in nature] 27% 38% 15%
Read print articles about the candidates, i.e., in newspapers or magazines 47% 40% 54%
Watched TV ads about/by the candidates 56% 43% 69%
Donated money by telephone or traditional U.S. mail 8% 6% 10%
1,997 NH Voters
TotalUnder
30Over
30
• Rock the Boat recruitment
• 1 million supporters (July 2008)
• 4.9 million voted on election day
What Was YouTube Worth?
TubeMogul ran the numbers:
Obama had over 1,650 videos on YouTube
Total of 14,548,809.05 hours
Equivalent of
$46 million in TV time
Specialty Socnets
• AsianAve.com
• MiGente.com
• BlackPlanet.com
• MyBatanga.com
"Historically, the neighborhood church has been one of the most crucial venues for neighborhood social networking in the United States...
Likewise, the other mainstay of social networking for Democrats, the union hall, has dissolved into obscurity as America's industrial base has moved off-shore…
Political networking via the Internet has allowed Democrats to reclaim the social networking high ground."
Mobile
• Obama Mobile WAP site– Latest news– Download videos on cellphones– Ringtones, wallpaper
• Text messages via shortcode (62262)
• 2.9 million text addresses registered
• Obama iPhone
Collaboration Tools
• Collaboration platforms for field operations management teams
• wiki-based
• Decentralized
• Reduced burden on central website staff
Central Desktop, Basecamp
Example
• Precinct Captain Learning Center
• Used by precinct captains to organize and publish meeting times and locations, materials, contact points and instructions
• Resource center: office locator, fact check
• Data entry results of calls
• Meet other precinct captains for collaboration
Basecamp
• Manage events
• Build my.BO website
More…
Supporter-generated content
• Websites
• YouTube videos
• Obama ’08 iPhone and iPod Touch apps
Video Game Ads
Online and Sponsored Link Ads
Online and Sponsored Link Ads
Credit Card Processing
• Criticism of credit card transaction processing– Untraceable pre-paid cards– Turned off anti-fraud mechanisms, like name
and address matching– Odd donation amounts: foreign currency
conversions?
Pew/Internet Survey
• 46% of Americans have used the internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign
• 35% have watched online political videos
• 10% have used social networking sites
• 6% have made online contributions
Dream Team
• David Plouffe, Campaign Manager• David Axelrod, Political Consultant• Ad agency: Jim Margolis and GMMB, the lead agency
for Bill Clinton's campaign for President• Marketing firm: Shepardson Stern and Kaminsky (SS+K)
specializes in new media and reaching young voters • “Online Organizing Guru”: Chris Hughes, Facebook co-
founder• New Media Director: Joe Rospars, founding partner of
Blue State Digital, served on Howard Dean's presidential campaign Internet team
• 95 staffers on Internet team
Team
Nikki Sutton, Joe Rospars, Chris Hughes, Kate Albright-Hanna, Scott Goodstein and Sam Graham-Felsen
Ad Age’s 2008 Marketer of the Year
Ad Age’s 2008 Marketer of the Year
What’s Next?
• Change.gov
• ObamaCTO.org (uservoice)
• RebuildtheParty.com (GOP)
• RepublicanForAReason.com
The power of traditional connections is being replaced by the power of mass connectedness. Politics is taking place on a grander stage than ever before, with millions, and not just tens of thousands -- participating directly in the process. Millions of people can not only vote, but they can organize with each other across geographic boundaries to build political power in real time. Their sheer scale allows them to rapidly outflank traditional power brokers in a way that simply wasn't possible before.
The Republican Party can no longer survive in a modern era if we resist this new reality. With our power in Washington waning, our grassroots are the source of our greatest strength -- not a problem to be managed. To revitalize ourselves, we must invite the crowd back in and tap their energy and creativity.
This isn't just about the Internet -- it's about recognizing that in a people-powered era, with the power of technology-empowered grassroots movements on the rise -- everything about the way we mobilize voters changes. Campaign plans that called for a few hundred or thousand volunteers making phone calls in the final days are hopelessly quaint and limiting in an era when millions of people want to feel connected and involved 24/7.
http://rebuildtheparty.com/
The most viral political ad ever
MoveOn’s “Non-Voter” Ad
