LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - Jun 14, 2012) - With a goal to register 1.5 million voters in the upcoming Presidential election, Rock the Vote has enlisted the support of social media promotions startup PromoJam to custom build a digital campaign in the run-up to the presidential election in November 2012.
Voters are unable to register to vote online in all but ten states. Yet, 18 to 29-year-olds in America -- 44 million strong -- are highly connected to social networking and web content sites through their smartphones, tablets and computers. To bridge the divide, Rock the Vote and PromoJam are using QR codes, mobile phones, and a leading-edge social media platform to make the antiquated voter registration procedures that exist today more accessible to young voters.
This joint effort has been designed to engage youth, via their smartphones, in the political process. PromoJam has drawn from its experience launching customized social media promotions for Fortune 500 brands to develop a digital campaign that will enable Rock the Vote to effectively educate and excite young voters this year.
With the assistance of RedLaser, the global leader in QR code technology, the campaign kicked off with a Scan-To-Vote T-shirt at South by Southwest encouraging youth voter registration on the fly. On June 14th, PromoJam and Rock the Vote are launching the official "Scan-To-Vote Control Room" website to serve as mission control for voter registration. From here, youth can register to vote through Rock the Vote's online technology via their smartphone, share social updates across multiple networks, download the Scan-To-Vote education action kit, purchase the official t-shirt and more.
Tweet this: Social media experts @PromoJam and @RocktheVote launch digital QR code campaign to boost youth voter registration in 2012! #ScanToVote
The campaign involves:
- A "Scan-To-Vote" T-shirt for the election year, developed in collaboration with Junk Food Clothing, Threads for Thought, Rock the Vote, RedLaser and PromoJam that enables young people to fill out a voter registration form from their smartphone. Users simply can scan the QR code on the t-shirt with RedLaser to launch a PromoJam mobile page with education videos about the election, Facebook "like" buttons, and the ability to register to vote. The T-shirt reaches youth via channels they care about most: fashion, technology and social networks.
- Celebrities like Christina Aguilera, Pete Wentz, Perez Hilton and Kat Graham are supporting the cause by encouraging their fans and youth in America to register to vote.
- A QR code-driven process that guides users through the mobile registration process and makes it easy for them to print, sign and send their registration form.
- The Scan-To-Vote Control Room website includes a simple voter registration process powered by Rock the Vote's technology, education materials, social share functionality across Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Google+.
Supporting Quotes:
"PromoJam has already helped dozens of big-name brands help get the results they need out of social media promotions. Now, we're turning our attention to getting out the vote. Our goal is to show a better way that engages the youth market -- and maybe even helps lawmakers challenge their outdated ways of registering the next generation of voters," said Amanda MacNaughton, co-founder of PromoJam.
"We are taking action to block some of the most restrictive laws from going into effect and together with Promo Jam we are launching new technology to help young people register to vote and give them the information they need to make their voices heard," said Heather Smith, President of Rock the Vote.
Supporting Statistics:
- 75 million eligible people did not vote in the previous election. 80 percent of them were not registered to vote.1
- America's 44 million eligible young voters represent more than one-quarter of the electorate.2
- In 2008, Rock the Vote's registered 2.2 million young people to vote.
- Paperless systems have doubled the number of registrations through motor vehicle departments in the states of Kansas and Washington. In Arizona, a new system has increased the registration of voters ages 18-24 from 29 percent in 2000 to 53 percent in 2008.3
- 11 out of 50 Fortune 500 companies are leveraging QR codes in their marketing strategies.
Links:
- Scan-To-Vote Control Room Website: scantovote.org
- To view the mobile webpage, scan the QR-Code or type the URL into your smartphone browser: http://rockthevote.promojamgo.com/register
- Scan-To-Vote shirts available at Whole Foods nationwide and online at: http://www.threadsforthought.com/scan-to-vote/l/1013
- For more information on state-by-state youth voter registration, go to: http://www.rockthevote.com/research/
About:
PromoJam is a leading enterprise Social Marketing Platform that provides businesses a full suite of tools to easily build, launch, track, and promote social media promotions across multiple social networks, both online and on the mobile phone. PromoJam is dedicated to building innovating technology solutions that help people connect in new and engaging ways. PromoJam is used by many of the biggest brands and artists in the world to reach new and existing customers including: NBC Universal, The North Face, Clear Channel Radio, BlackBerry, Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Pearl Jam; http://promojam.com
Rock The Vote: Rock the Vote's mission is to engage and build political power for young people in our country. Founded twenty-one years ago at the intersection of popular culture and politics, Rock the Vote has registered more than five million young people to vote and has become a trusted source of information for young people about registering to vote and casting a ballot. We use music, popular culture, new technologies and grassroots organizing to motivate and mobilize young people in our country to participate in every election, with the goal of seizing the power of the youth vote to create political and social change; www.rockthevote.com
RedLaser: RedLaser is a leading barcode-scanning mobile application for iPhone, Android(TM) and Windows 7 and was acquired by eBay Mobile in June 2010. The app has over 20 million downloads and is consistently a top three free utilities app in the U.S. Apple iTunes(R) store. Scan a catalogue item and price across Google, TheFind, eBay, Half.com, Milo.com and Best Buy will populate for comparison, along with helpful product information. The RedLaser software development kit (SDK) is licensed by more than 1,200 full customers across five continents, including Coupons.com, TheFind, The Knot and shopkick and stickybits. For more information on RedLaser, visit www.redlaser.com
Junk Food X Threads for Thought: Celebrity t-shirt emporium Junk Food has joined forces with leading eco-fashion label Threads for Thought to launch a series of social cause tees, in partnership with PromoJam and Rock the Vote. Junk Food is the original vintage t-shirt company, with distribution rights to over 800 pop-culture licenses and is distributed in over 4,500 premium fashion stores globally. Leading ethical fashion label Threads for Thought is a pioneer in both sustainable and organic manufacturing and is a passionate champion for numerous important social causes. www.junkfoodclothing.com
www.threadsforthought.com
1 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/07/opinion/how-to-expand-the-voter-rolls.html
2 U.S. Census
3 The Brennan Center for Justice
Contact Information:
Virginia Jamieson
Virginia@eastwick.com