Harper Reed, the now-famous CTO for the 2012 Obama campaign, said at a presentation following the campaign, “Technology was more important this cycle because in 2008 we were using technology. In 2012, our parents were.”
His assertion seems to have held up as a new study from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project found that more than half – 56% – of all cell phone devices in the US are now smartphones. Continue reading →
It’s not often that you get to use the word “beautiful” in politics, but thanks to Esri, Voter Gravity 2.0 features beautiful new maps to help campaigns visualize their data more easily.
The maps integrated into Voter Gravity are primarily from Esri, a global geospatial technology company. Last week in San Diego, the Voter Gravity team had the chance to demo our unique map and mobile-based voter contact solution to the more than 15,000 attendees of the Esri User Conference. Continue reading →
Voter Gravity 2.0 has arrived, bringing with it stunning, next-generation maps, faster walk-list optimization, an innovative new canvassing app that works on any smartphone, an integrated phone banking feature, and the ability to track all of your data in real-time.
What this really means is that you can now build a bigger, faster, and more targeted voter contact effort than ever before. You can target the right voters, reach them with the right message, and motivate them to action. Continue reading →
Voter Gravity would like to congratulate Andy Barkett on his hiring as the new Chief Technology Officer at the Republican National Committee.
“Hiring Andy is a positive step in the right direction for the RNC. It puts everyone on notice that they are serious about leveraging technology,” said Voter Gravity CEO Ned Ryun. “Voter Gravity is all about deploying data, analytics and technology broadly to impact elections, and we look forward to seeing more good news like this come out of the RNC.” Continue reading →
Campaigns put tremendous energy and effort into knocking on doors and making phone calls in order to turnout voters.
But how many really use voter contact to inform strategic decisions? Continue reading →
Campaigns are changing. Once dominated by blast communications — TV ads, direct mail, and robocalls — the modern campaign is adapt at two-way communications. Canvassing, social media, phone banking, and peer-to-peer engagement are now more important than ever to creating a winning campaign.
The backbone of these new strategies is an effective, motivated, productive grassroots organization. But how does a campaign recruit dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of volunteers willing to give their time to help your cause? Here are six ideas to start building the campaign of the future. Continue reading →
Campaigns are changing. Once dominated by blast communications — TV ads, direct mail, and robocalls — the modern campaign is adapt at two-way communications. Canvassing, social media, phone banking, and peer-to-peer engagement are now more important than ever to creating a winning campaign.
The backbone of these new strategies is an effective, motivated, productive grassroots organization. But how does a campaign recruit dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of volunteers willing to give their time to help your cause? Here are six ideas to start building the campaign of the future. Continue reading →
In the aftermath of the 2012 Republican defeat, we have no shortage of GOP strategists willing to embrace the impact of data and technology in electoral politics. All but the most stubborn are also racing to implement some form of “new software tools” or “Big Data analytics” into their strategic rhetoric moving forward, in an effort to “catch up to the left” and their successful use of new tech.
Most speak of their decision to accept the way campaigning has changed as transformative, as if choosing to ditch the pencil and paper will itself put Republicans on even ground with the opposition.
The truth is that campaigning has not only changed – it is continuing to change. Simply implementing comparable techniques to what Obama’s 2012 team utilized (while a huge step forward for most Republican efforts) will not be enough. The Democrats’ 2012 data operations were successful not because they had never been used before; they were successful because they had been used before – and built upon nonstop since the day Obama was first elected in 2008. Continue reading →