Limbo: How Mobile Advertising Changes Voters' Minds

On the heels of my interview with MTV's Ian Rowe, vice president of public affairs, on the first-ever Super Tuesday events reported via video mobile phone, I got this data from mobile entertainment community Limbo.

Apparently, a new study has established how voters' attitudes and behaviors are influenced through mobile advertising.

In January, Limbo ran SMS advertising campaigns for leading Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, delivering over one million SMS impressions across the two campaigns. The results suggest that SMS advertising provides a powerful tool for candidates to change consumer attitudes and voting behavior.

Among the findings:

Change in voting intention: Six percent (6%) of those surveyed after the campaigns said that the advertising had changed their voting intentions significantly. This was highest for men at seven percent (7%), those aged 35+ at seven percent (7%), and for African Americans at nine percent (9%). An additional 22 percent (22%) said their intentions had been changed a little. 

Change in perception of the candidate: Fourteen percent (14%) said that their perceptions of the candidate were now more positive than before seeing the campaign, with only four percent (4%) saying it was now more negative, a net 10 percent (10%) increase in positive perception. Barack Obama saw the biggest uplift, with a net gain of 16 percent (16%).

As well as changing impressions of the candidates, the campaigns also functioned to drive greater interaction with the candidate across other paid and non-paid media:

·      Thirty-seven percent (37%) paid more attention to news coverage about the candidate
·      Twelve percent (12%) became more aware of other marketing for the candidate
·      Seven percent (7%) visited the candidate’s website with a further 24 percent (24%) intending to do so in the future
·      Five percent (5%) visited the candidate’s mobile Internet site with a further nine percent (9%) intending to do so in the future

Indeed, these findings down jive with many of the comments made by Rowe in MTV's "Choose or Lose" campaign.

Best of all: We won't have to wait to long to see if/how it all translates into votes during tomorrow's big Super Tuesday contest.

Quick Links:

GENERATION WOW: The World of Multi-platform Marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
BRANDING UNBOUND IN ADWEEK Magazines
Rick Mathieson.com