So I’m seeing a few nascent takes about Zoom & Animal Crossing in the B*den campaign as a tech story. I want to assure you it is not.

It’s a clever/effective use of media story. These are the kinds of ideas that get floated in ad agencies, not tech shops.

You have to give them credit - they’ve been well executed (which a lot agencies struggle with) + they have the benefit of celebrity support (which normal brands fight to get).

But these are media ideas, well executed, not “tech solutions”. And they don’t need coders to do them.

I hear through various grapevines that the actual tech stack for turnout and fundraising is... meh. There has also been some chicanery around some of these tools, one campaign interfering in another’s.

And the DJT side only *just* launched a digital volunteering app built on “earning points” for VIP treatment at... who cares. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/blog/meet-press-blog-latest-news-analysis-data-driving-political-discussion-n988541

DJT’s tech & ad strategy is just basic direct marketing - build that list. The gamification on the volunteer app is interesting if it helps them ID high value contacts (the ones who donate & are willing to engage in a little casual voter intimidation at the polls, one supposes).

The one bright light of this cycle for me personally is that the tone of B*den’s direct email/text program has been so much more positive, folksy, optimistic than H*llary’s, which everyday made me feel like they were losing, which I suppose turned out to be true-ish!

Anyway: smart use of Zoom, Instagram, and Animal Crossing are not tech stories, they’re media stories. And they’ve done a pretty damned good job using those channels. Credit where it’s due.