MoveOn’s very clever election video
One of the hallmarks of this US Presidential Election has been the incredibly effective use of the internet by the Obama campaign. This particular video, by moveon.org, lets you send a customized message out to your slacker friends… the ones who might not be planning to vote.
Viral video is nothing new of course. However, this one is spreading like wildfire. Why? MoveOn encourages you to load your Yahoo, AOL or Hotmail address book into their site and send custom messages to ALL of your friends. As I was watching the site, the counter online seemed to be sending out 100 new custom videos every 5 to 6 seconds. Over 13.5 million videos sent so far.
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November 3rd, 2008 at 9:40 pm
[...] Simply type in your name, and you get blamed for Republicans winning the election… Thanks Alec for the link… Popularity: [...]
November 4th, 2008 at 8:20 am
This is brilliant.
Every bit as powerful as the original Dove Beauty campaign that first put viral video on the map (at least to me).
The use of overlayed images throughout the video is impressive – and I wonder how long it will be before custom audio can be inserted without seeming out of place. Not long I expect.
You’d never get that level of personalization on any other medium – and that means that marketers will increasingly turn to online video to tell their stories.
The risk is that without the deft handling that evident in this case (a call to action) or the Dove example (brand building) that online video will lose a lot of its cashe.
Still as an example of what is possible – and how it can affect outcomes – this is incredibly effective.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
This is amazing, Alec. Do you think it is effective? To me, it is so offensive that I might well stay home or vote for the other guy. Dad
November 5th, 2008 at 2:10 am
yes we can!
November 12th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
[...] than just Barak Obama using social media well as some have commented. Just check out MoveOn’s very clever election video. This was just one of many viral activities. Clearly Barack’s Youth Vote Was [...]