1. Mobile Campaigns for Country/Advocacy Outreach
April 25, 2012

2. Summary
Benefits of mobile campaigns
• Rapid dissemination of messages
and lower response time
• The ability of text messages to
deliver “call to action” messages
and invite further contact through
the Web or email
• Young people attracted to advocacy
campaigns are generally very
comfortable using mobile phones
• Mobile phones can be used in
Text messaging in the U.S.
highly targeted ways to recruit
supporters by using specific venues African-Americans: 780 texts/month
Hispanics: 767 texts/month
such as rallies and events with the Whites: 566 texts//month
help of announcements, flyers, etc. Asians: 384 texts/month
• Mobile phone advocacy American women: 601 texts/month
communication allows organizations American men: 447 texts/month
to recruit participants as permanent Teens: 2,779 texts/month
supporters Aged 18-24: 1,299 texts/month
Aged 25-34: 592 texts/month
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3. Best Practices
6 Steps for a Successful Mobile Advocacy Campaign
1. Set goals and plan your mobile advocacy campaign
2. Identify a vendor to run your mobile advocacy campaign
3. Develop a marketing plan to reach your mobile constituency
4. Craft the mechanics of your campaign and your mobile
messaging steps
5. Set-up your system to get your mobile data into your in-house
database
6. Decide on your campaign closure and evaluation activities
Key Ingredients Potential Drawbacks
• Call-to-Action • Few Standards
• Benefit Statement • Privacy and Permission
• Special Considerations • Questionable Navigation
• Terms and Conditions • Network Problems
• Branding • Cost
• Data Caps
• Ease of Use

4. Advocacy Case Studies
Haiti Earthquake 2010: Following the Haiti earthquake in
2010, $43 million was raised via text donations. For 74%
of these donors, the Haiti campaign represented the first
time they have made a charitable contribution through a
mobile device and three-quarters of them did so on the
“spur-of-the-moment” without undertaking much research.
Other examples: International Fund for Animal Welfare
2006, Last Call at the Oasis
International Political Campaigns
Uganda: Fraud was decreased by 26% when people
using cellphones took pictures of posted local election
tallies and sent them to a central clearinghouse.
Other examples: Arab Spring (Middle East Uprisings),
New Zealand
U.S. Political Campaigns
Bachman Congressional Campaign 2012: People who
attended the Minnesota State Fair in 2010 and had a
smartphone received targeted ads on their mobile devices
from Michelle Bachmann’s congressional campaign
informing them that her opponent supported food tax
increases.
Other examples: Obama Presidential Campaign 2008,
Gingrich Presidential Campaign 2012, Obama
Presidential Campaign 2012
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5. Next Steps: Public Affairs Practice
Public Affairs Country Work
• Recommend optimizing • Deliver call-to-action
websites for mobile access messages including physical
display, given higher and virtual
proportion of mobile Internet organization/assembly
access. around key events, media
• Upon establishing social appearances, discussions
media channels or landing • Encourage recruitment and
pages, integrate opt-in text cross-promote mobile
alert functions for followers to campaign on social media
receive updates and platforms, especially
notification of news, media Facebook
events, appearances, etc. • Establish “text to donate” or
“text to tweet” programs for
supporters
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6. Appendix: Mobile in Jordan and Indonesia
Jordan’s mobile phone
penetration reached 120%
by the end of the third
quarter of 2011, with 7.465
million subscribers by the
Of the 95% of Jordanians
end of September, of whom
who said they own a cell
6.7 million are prepaid card
phone, 63% said they send
users (meanwhile, internet
text messages.
penetration reached 45%
by the end of September,
Of the 55% of Indonesians
with 2.813 million internet
who said they own a cell
users in the country).
phone, 96% said they send
text messages.
In Indonesia, mobile phone penetration tripled in the past five years to 54%; much of this
growth is being driven by teens, with more than 70% having a mobile phone connection.
63% of Indonesian Internet users have adopted mobile Internet, placing the country at the
top of Southeast Asia's mobile Internet penetration.
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