To Win in 2012: Maryland Politicians Must Embrace Technology

March 14, 2012 by Robert Schapiro, co-founder & chief pilot | Bootcamp Lights

Baltimore, MD – Political candidates are always looking for a new and innovative way to not only make their presence known, but also to get their message across. The best political candidates are not always the ones with the best speeches; they are the ones that leave the most lasting impression.

Sixty five years ago, it was unheard of to use a glass and wooden box in your living room to watch an inaugural address.

Now political candidates simulcast their messages on smart phones, computer screens, and satellite radio. The days of bumper stickers and front yard signs are over.

This is a time to be different; to catch attention and have a name resonate in the heads of voters while they are at the ballot booth.

While voting in primaries and off-year elections, many uninformed voters will select the name of the candidate that sounds best, or is at the top of the alphabetical list, or even leave the box blank. What these candidates need is a way to distinguish themselves from the status quo. They need a means of advertising that’s different from the “same old stuff”.

This election year will be a historic one. With gas prices on the rise, double-digit unemployment, the falling value of the dollar, and the same old social issues on the table, Americans are looking for a solution. Unfortunately, the candidates that have the solutions are often the ones that are least heard. According to a study done by the New York Times, voter turnout in the primaries hasn’t been above 20% since 1966. In the general elections, most voters vote their party affiliation, but in the primaries, if no single Democrat (or Republican) stands out above the others the uninformed voters may just stay home.

Candidates should be using this opportunity to get their name in the minds of voters. If three of the four Republican front-runners have the exact same views on the issues but the forth republican doesn’t get effective media coverage, he will never win the nomination. By using new forms of advertising, he or she can distinguish him or herself from the others and get that desperately needed exposure.

During an election year, if you turn on your television, the majority of the coverage you will see is not on the issues that the candidates represent, but rather the slip-ups that they make in front of the podium, the skeletons in their closet, and of course, their means of advertisement.

Why not be the first political candidate to use a new form of innovative advertising?

Make this election year a memorable one. Do something different. Get the exposure that your political campaign needs to resonate in the minds of voters.

When you are looking for that new means to share your message with Baltimore and its surrounding communities, remember this: in Maryland, the LGBTQ has been trying to earn the right to marry for decades, yet in the first year that they used Bootcamp Lights to push their message to the masses, gay marriage passed Maryland legislation. Coincidence?