Rock The Vote's We Will Campaign Harnesses the Power of Out-of-Home Media

NEW YORK, Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- With less than 50 days left until Election Day, Rock the Vote's "We Will" out-of-home media campaign aims to defy voter suppression efforts in the home stretch. Pending or passed legislation in 20 states[1] will make it harder for young people to vote. Launching in key states and nationwide, the "We Will" campaign educates young people about these changes and reminds them of their collective power. The campaign combines messages with photography and graphics[2] and includes Near Field Communications (NFC) interactivity from Blue Bite, a mobile marketing innovator specializing in location-based campaigns. The campaign's objective, creatively rendered by TaskForce and Apartment One, is to motivate youth to vote and shape the future, rather than merely accepting it.

Over its 21-year history, Rock the Vote has always sought to galvanize the youth vote in ways that have resonated with each generation: "We recognized that thought-provoking content, whether static with mobile layering on the street or digital in place-based venues, would invigorate 'We Will' in the most perceptible way," said Heather Smith, President of Rock the Vote. This year, the organization has invested in their biggest traditional and digital out-of-home campaign ever, incorporating billboards, NFC-layered bus shelters, phone kiosks, wild postings, taxi tops, college shuttle buses and digital screens in high-visibility areas.

Blue Bite's proprietary mTAG® platform will play a prominent role, powering bus shelters with NFC, allowing smartphone users to connect with the interactive campaign by tapping or scanning the mTAG® enabled posters to immediately register to vote, without having to download external applications.

"We're incredibly excited to work with PVBLIC Foundation and The Judge Group to advance Rock the Vote's goals," said Mikhail Damiani, CEO and co-founder of Blue Bite. "NFC is a powerful tool to engage consumers in a personal way by combining out-of-home media messaging and smartphone capabilities, and the use of innovative technology is an excellent way to target Rock the Vote's core constituency – younger voters."

"We at PVBLIC believe in empowering organizations to convey their messages. Toward that end, we have a strong track record of successfully aggregating media toward groups and causes. We strongly believe in the power of media," stated Sergio Fernandez de Cordova, Chairman and co-founder of PVBLIC Foundation. "Most recently, PVBLIC aggregated an unprecedented amount of media for the Rock the Vote campaign in an effort to help promote the group's bold message of youth empowerment to vote. We are proud to be working with The Judge Group to architect the media strategy and planning for this campaign, and we anticipate other successful collaborations in the future. Additionally, we are pleased to work with Blue Bite, an organization that provides the capability to deliver relevant, rich media messages that will resonate with younger voters."

"We segmented and integrated the most dynamic media platforms of our day to harness the power of traditional out-of-home's 24/7 presence and digital out-of-home's supreme flexibility in real-time for current issues this Election Year," said Anne Judge, Founder and Managing Principal, The Judge Group.  She added, "Layering NFC technology atop bus shelter posters with a trusted company like Blue Bite aligns with youth voters' aptitude as early adopters and on the go lifestyle. It also allowed us to switch the mobile engagement message midway through posting from 'register to vote' to 'vote.' That's a welcomed tool when different states have different voter registration deadlines."

According to Circle (The Center for Information and Research On Civic Learning and Engagement) at Tufts University, "Youth voting has been on the rise in the past several election cycles. Youth (18-29) voter turnout rose to 51 percent in 2008, an increase of two percentage points from the 2004 Presidential election. However, youth voter turnout still lags behind turnout of those over 30 years old."[3]

The "We Will" campaign runs for eight weeks leading up to Election Day with impression levels that exceed 297 million today and will continue to grow as more out-of-home companies step up to partner. Find out more about the Rock the Vote campaign at  http://www.rockthevote.com/about/press-room/press-releases/rock-the-vote-announces-we-will-campaign.html.

About Us:

Blue Bite is a leading mobile-marketing solutions provider utilizing a targeted, location-based approach to reach captive audiences on their personal mobile devices.  Blue Bite has partnered with many of the leading Out-of-Home Companies in the U.S. and prides itself on creating an interactive two-way engagement by enabling consumers to connect with digital and traditional media via their mobile phone. For more information, please visit www.bluebite.com and follow the latest updates and developments on Facebook and Twitter.

Rock the Vote's mission is to engage and build political power for young people in our country. Using music, popular culture, new technologies and grassroots organizing for more than 20 years, Rock the Vote has registered more than 5 million young people. As the tidal wave of Millennial generation voters continues to establish its power at the polls, Rock the Vote will register millions more young people and make their voices heard.
www.rockthevote.org  

PVBLIC Foundation is an innovative in-kind grant-making organization that harnesses the power of unused media assets to drive social change.  An aggregator of media across all platforms, we work strategically to pair media space with key non-profits at the local, national and global levels.  We utilize existing and emerging technologies to increase issue awareness around important causes and help non-profits amplify their message.  At PVBLIC, we believe that media = the new currency.  
www.pvblic.org

The Judge Group (TJG) was founded in 2011 as an independent media agency that offers clients direct access to media strategy that best fits this generation.  Masters at both segmenting and integrating the most dynamic media platforms of our day – out of home, digital out of home, social, cinema, experiential and mobile integration across platforms - TJG brings imaginative media solutions by understanding consumers' behavioral and lifestyle patterns and activates campaigns at key touch points that influence target audiences with memorable and measurable results.  
www.thejudgegroup.net 

[1] http://99problems.org/2012/05/interactive-map-voter-suppression-efforts-nationwide/

[2] http://www.rockthevote.com/about/press-room/press-releases/rock-the-vote-announces-we-will-campaign.html

[3] http://www.civicyouth.org/quick-facts/youth-voting/

SOURCE Blue Bite