[Sorry, couldn't resist the obvious.] Justin Hamilton with Cong. George Miller’s office has written in to promote an interesting integrated online campaign called “Ask George” that the congressmember is running — he’s asking people to submit video questions about the Iraq war to any of the major video-sharing sites tagged with the term “askgeorge,” and he’ll answer them on his MillerTV video podcast (no word on how many questions he’ll take per week). He’ll also take appropriately titled emails as well as messages sent through an Ask George Facebook group. Finally, Miller’s folks have worked with vendor SplashCast media to create a Facebook Application (the first by a Congressmember?) to display MillerTV video, which I just installed to check it out. Here’s Miller’s video explanation of the campaign:
Very cool concept all around: as Justin puts it, it’s the “first interactive, multi-dimensional congressional town hall, and first congressional facebook application. Our goal is to use new media to further engage the public in a critical public policy issue and help bring us closer to achieving a new direction in the Iraq war. The idea is to have this conversation take place, not on our site, but where ever it is people are online.”
One small recommendation: for MillerTV, go with the more casual setting rather than the formal standup — Miller seems much more relaxed and conversational sitting in his office. Otherwise, excellent way to use the medium — combining video back-and-forth, content-tagging and social networking. Oh, and don’t forget good old email.
Fascinating article in Slate today about the use of political campaign tactics to build demand for Michael Moore’s new film about health care in America, Sicko:
The Weinstein Company, Sicko’s distributor, has hired a Democratic “phone vendor” to contact a select group of potential moviegoers and encourage them to see the film. Phone vendors are usually employed by political campaigns and other interest groups to promote a candidate or a cause. But in this case, they just want you to watch a movie. They’ve already made “tens of thousands” of live calls, with another slew of “robo calls” — recorded messages read by Moore himself — on the way, according to the president of the firm Winning Connections. Callers target known Democratic contributors or activists in New York and Denver, where the film is being released this weekend.
Slicing and dicing political donor lists? That’s crazy talk! As in, fox crazy — the calls apparently cost only 14 cents at most, and they’re aimed at lefty opinion leaders, so each successful call should have a multiplier effect. The film’s being debuted across the country in a steady roll rather than all at once, so the producers (working with Democratic consultant Chris Lehane) are hoping to build a national audience incrementally without having to resort to expensive mass-market tv ads (though I’ve seen some targeted cable ads). Campaign methods spread to commercial marketing! (Though in this case, for a product that definitely has a political edge). What’s next? Negative ads! “Reese’s Pieces — they say they’re an innocent candy, but what do we REALLY know about them? As THIS footage shows, they once shared a room with an illegal alien…”
You might have missed it, since the article was in the Style section instead of among the political news, but Philip Kennicott wrote in Tuesday’s Washington Post about a fascinating Radio Free Europe report on the Iraqi Sunni insurgency’s use of the web as a communications tool. Besides obvious political messaging, the researchers found “a surprisingly rich mix of news and religion and entertainment.” For instance:
“Top 20,” produced by Ansar al-Sunnah, is a compilation video of attacks on U.S. forces, presented as a greatest-hits competition among “insurgent brigades” for footage of the most spectacular attack. It is made with the express intention to encourage “healthy” rivalry among cells of fighters.
“It is very fast-paced and clearly aimed at the video game generation,” says [Daniel] Kimmage, who is an Arabist and a regional analyst for the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which broadcasts into Iraq.
