One of the nation’s most prominent unions is running an online-only ad campaign that uses parody to oppose what it calls anti-immigrant laws like the immigration law recently passed in Arizona. A secondary goal: collect mobile phone numbers. The Service Employees International Union is doing what a lot of advocacy organizations are finding to be a valuable strategy – campaigning not only to promote a cause, but to build a list.
With the help of digital consulting firm Revolution Messaging, the SEIU is taking a unique approach to readily solicit cell phone numbers by promoting an 800-number in display and search ads. “Before you travel to Arizona, call the travel advisory hotline” declare ads running in Google’s display network since last Monday. The ads link to ItStopsInArizona.org, a site featuring a petition opposing the immigration law passed in Arizona in April, along with similar legislation in other states, and supporting comprehensive federal immigration reform.
Related search ads are targeted to keyword terms such as “Arizona immigration law” and “immigration reform.”
Dialing 1-800-958-9068 alerts callers that if they’re considering a visit to Arizona, they should beware of the “overly stringent” immigration law. “If you plan to wear jeans, press one,” commands the automated voice on the other end of the line. “If your skin is even remotely tanned, yellow, brown or blue in hue, press two.” The caller is told to visit ItStopsInArizona.org, or, if calling from a mobile phone, to press a button to receive text alerts on that device.
In this way, the 1-800 number element of the campaign becomes especially important because it enables SEIU to easily capture mobile phone numbers.
To read the entire article on ClickZ, click here.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Politics Biting in Larger Pieces of Online Power
(Cyber Media)
It’s predicted that online political donations will reach $4 billion this election cycle.
Privacy Concerns Fail to Slow Social Activity (eMarketer)
A new study shows online users fear ads more than identity theft.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
A New Tool for Advocacy Communications – BrightText (Beekeeper Group)
BrightText makes a standard advocacy letter easy for activists to customize, transforming a single form letter into numerous unique communications.
White House Orders Review of Federal Technology Spending (Hillicon Valley)
The White House plans cut government waste by making public-sector technology more efficient.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Blame Twitter? Or Blame McChrystal? (techPresident)
Did General McChrystal’s swift downfall get its contributions from the blurring of the line between public and private in today’s world of social media?
Sen. Bond Says DHS Shouldn’t Oversee Cybersecurity
(Hillicon Valley)
Bond believes the Department of Homeland Security is already overburdened and shouldn’t be put in charge of protecting the country’s computer networks.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
How Social Media Brought Down Gen. McChrystal (Advocacy 2.0)
Does Gen. McChrystal have social-media to thank for the fact that he lost his post as the U.S. commander in Afghanistan?
Democrats Release iPhone and iPad Apps (techPresident)
Yesterday, The Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America launched iPad and iPhone apps.
Originally published on Epolitics.com
Integrate or die: words seen on Epolitics.com before and for good reason, since standalone online campaigns rarely work as well as ones combined with concrete action in the physical world. For a good example of how the virtual can combine with the real to yield results, see Food and Water Watch’s campaign last year to get federal approval for schools to buy hormone-free milk through the National School Lunch Program. As described by Sarah Alexander at a June 17th Digital Capital Week presentation, Food and Water Watch followed a strategy that wound online and offline action tightly together to get the best out of both, in part through leveraging the results of a van trip through the states and districts of crucial legislators. Note: the cow costumes didn’t hurt.
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Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Survey: Americans Turning Away From ‘Uncivil’ Social Networking Sites (PR News – subscription required)
According to a survey from Weber Shandwick, one-third of Americans are avoiding social networking sites with uncivil behavior and disrespectful dialogue.
If We Don’t Self-Regulate the Social Web, Someone Else Will
(The Huffington Post)
Are some companies compromising data security and privacy in exchange for connections that can be made with customers?
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Foursquare Checks Into Politics With C-SPAN (brandchannel)
Foursquare and C-SPAN partner to allow users to tap into C-SPAN content that has been geotagged as relevant to their location.
Newspapers Are Still Dying, But the News Is Not Going Anywhere (Mashable)
Even though newspaper share prices saw a 380% increase last year, one blogger believes the only way for newspapers to survive is by investing resources into online innovation.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
CNN Cuts Ties with AP (CNN Money)
CNN announced yesterday that it will no longer use content from the Associated Press.
Scott Heiferman at PdF ‘10: “Followers” Do Not a Movement Make (techPresident)
A video of Scott Heiferman , a speaker at PdF’10, making a case for why making it simple for people to self-organize can be what it takes to turn social media followers into real movements capable of creating change.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Survey: Immigration Ranks First in Survey of Constituents’ Concerns (Hillicon Valley)
The “Congressional Conversation Index” collects and averages data from House offices about which issues constituents are most concerned about.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg Is Embracing the End of Email, Here’s Why (Fast Company)
According to Facebook’s COO, you must look at what teenagers are doing today to determine what people will be doing tomorrow – and only 11% of teens use e-mail daily.
