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Mobile Billboards Help Elect Obama

November 11, 2008 by · Leave a Comment 

Regardless of your political affiliations, the fact that the Obama campaign chose mobile billboards as a means of drumming up support for the President-elect in key states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio is a testament to the efficacy of mobile advertising. While truck side advertising may not have been the clincher for wavering voters, it was certainly one of the more visible aspects of Obama’s grassroots campaign.

As the dust from this ubiquitous, protracted election settles, it’s interesting and even useful to take a look at how Obama marketing paved the way for victory. Social Ch@nge, a blog that helps non-profit staff navigate the Internet, wrote of Obama’s operation, “never mind the politics: the campaign was the smartest publicity siege that’s been seen in a long time.” The so-called “siege” made use of everything from the Internet and video games to word-of-mouth and mobile billboards.

Chances are, if you live in one of the states aggressively targeted by both parties, you saw more than one billboard truck rumbling past with a meticulously planned bit of rhetoric stamped on the sides. The message might have been as simple as “HOPE: Vote Barack Obama for President,” but when you consider how much faster one truck could cover a neighborhood than an envoy of volunteers canvassing the same area on foot, the increased potential for permeation becomes significant. And as we all know, placement and promotion are crucial elements of any marketing mix.

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