Engage Her rallies for increased census completion with mobile campaign

April 9, 2010

Engage Her is relying on a mobile sweepstakes and video ads to remind Americans of the importance of completing the United States Census 2010.

Consumers that text the keyword FREECENSUS to the short code 53137 are entered for the chance to win an iPod touch. Consumers that answer the question “What does America need most?” via text message are added to a database for remarketing. 

“This campaign proves the multicultural youth, women and hard-to-reach communities are interested in using new technologies to communicate, activate and get civically engaged,” said Mable Yee, founder/CEO of Engage Her, Berkeley, CA.

“We will deploy the integrated media campaign for all national initiatives such as Vote 2010 and the Let's Move Fight Obesity initiatives,” she said.

Engage Her is a national organization that educates and activates multicultural communities for leadership roles and civic engagement.

The organization’s Census media campaign is a multichannel effort that includes viral video, SMS, social media and public service announcements.

Here is a screen grab of the SMS communication:

Update your census
The idea behind the prize was selected because generations that would text-to-win or enter via a PC would likely be incentivized to participate with an iPod touch.   

“We are promoting this through national partner organizations, social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, email campaign blasts and text-messaging campaigns that offer exciting prizes like an iPod touch,” Ms. Yee said.

The campaign, which is supported by Globaltel Media’s mobile messaging platform, includes a 30-second, animated Census video for viral distribution online and on mobile devices.

The video starts with a young girl desperately yelling and waving for someone to hear her, when she is sucked into a box labeled Census 2010.

A voice then says, “Now we can hear you, you need an education.”

From there she receives the schoolbooks she needs.

The campaign also involves partnerships with a diverse group of community and social advocacy groups to increase the outreach to communities that are underrepresented in the Census.

“Getting multicultural communities and youth involved by focusing on key issues like funding for education, job training and healthcare helps difficult to reach communities understand the personal affect of the Census,” Ms. Yee said.

“We believe this program will help increase census responses from the hard to reach communities through the animated content and messaging,” she said.