Connecting on a personal level for election success

With the US presidential election now concluded and the world at large coming off a natural post electoral high it is South Africa that’s bracing itself for round number two in 2009. And what massive shoes we have to fill. The Obama 2008 campaign has shown us a couple of things:
1. Being connected in 2008 is critical to the success of any campaign.2. Addressing the masses through all available media channels on a personal level can secure loyalty.
There is a definite heightened expectation for election 2009 in South Africa. It’s obvious that the broad availability of information and the sheer pace through which this information is delivered to our monitors have underpinned the importance of using electronic communications to spread the word.
Having said that, the DA and the ANC both have been utilizing the internet and mobile channels to gain momentum for a while now, but it is profound how ordinary their efforts appear when compared to the massive global appeal of the US elections.
The IEC have made it that much simpler for people to check whether they are on the voters roll for the upcoming elections in 2009 by either visiting their website and locking in our ID numbers or sending a text message with the ID to receive your status on your phone.
This is great progress considering the reluctance people had to previously go through the efforts to check their status, not to mention voting. There seems to be something like a national surge of responsibility and voting is top of mind of the masses.
Of course, the masses referred to here are those elite few that have the luxury of the internet. Less than 10% of the South African population is connected to the internet, which may or may not explain the IEC’s lack of urgency in getting their website compatible with various web browsers. Regardless, my point in question is whether we’re enabling the already enabled.
While Obama 2008 has shown how the internet could facilitate a ridiculously loyal following, one has to wonder what the respective parties in South Africa have in mind. My mind has been made up to whom my vote will go, but then to be truly honest, I was pretty much born into it. How many of the candidates have made the effort to communicate their message on a more personal level?
It may seem incomprehensible that a candidate should address me personally, but then this is the age of Me, Myself and I. And while the US have an internet penetration level much higher than South Africa, we have the unprecedented advantaged to be one of the highest mobile penetrated markets in the world.
Yet, we haven’t witnessed any form of mobile campaigning that is worth noting. Is that still to come? Our candidates are ready, speeches polished, Windsor knots perfected, but who will they address?
In the mobile phone, the political parties in South Africa have arguably the most valuable tool to swing votes known to man. And while the extravagance of the mobile phone might be slightly diminished compared to the internet, it is by far the biggest reaching communications platform we have to our disposal.
Something to think about the next time you pollute my boulevard with your yellow posters.

http://bluespotmedia.ning.com/