Direct Mail during the 2012 US Presidential Elections

Political campaigns make great use of direct mail, often sending the same item to voters several times. During the 2012 presidential elections, both candidates embraced modern media such as Twitter and Facebook as well as other social media platforms, but yet spend great amounts of money on more traditional forms of communication. Among these we can find direct mail, which involves sending advertising materials to potential consumers, in this case voters, by sending them promotional letters.

In this year’s race for president, the two candidates spent twice the amount on these traditional media than on internet advertising. Especially Mitt Romney whose objective was to appeal to older voters, made great use of direct mail, as older voters would appreciate the familiarity of receiving electoral information via postal service. To illustrate this the Washington Post reports that reports that Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee have spent more than $100 million on direct mail costs, while President Barack Obama and the incumbent Democratic party have spent approximately $70 million.

The envelope

Type 1

The envelope is very patriotic and has a traditional American style to it. The envelope is decorated in a blatant and unconcealed way, obviously making a statement in favor of the Romney-Ryan campaign. We immediately know what the inside of the envelopes contains and if we are convinced democrat we will probably throw it away right away. This hints that this mailing is directed to those voters that are undecided or inclined to vote in favor of the Republicans.

Type 2

This envelope is much more simple and subtle. It is a common white envelope, the only hint we get that it is political advertisement is the Romney campaign logo on the top right. This envelope is likely to be sent to a larger group of recipients, most of whom are undecided voters or even some who would be inclined to vote for the democrats.

The content

Political direct mail includes a variety of different type of contents, such as small posters that portray the candidate in a flattering light, small palm cards that convey information about the candidate’s stance on issues, flyers that explain a specific issue the candidate wants to tackle, or simply letters that give an overview over the campaign.

This is an example of a flyer that was sent to homes in New Hampshire via direct mail in order to explain and promote the changes that the Obama administration had brought along up to December 2011 in terms of health care, wall street, the war in Iraq, etc. The wording is concise and mainly informative. It is written from a seemingly neutral position, in order not to appear too persuasive as this would scare off the reader.

Positioning and Segmentation

The positioning depends strongly on the candidate and the political party that backs him. In the case of politics the positioning could refer to the stance and opinion the candidate and the party have on certain issues and what the key points are that they are going to tackle when elected.

In terms of segmentation, it is clear that promotional mail as part of a presidential campaign is directed towards the age group that includes the baby boomers who are more comfortable with mail via postal service than online communication. It is especially important to reach and influence older generations of voters. This can be essential in order to win the campaign, as in the 2008 elections more than half the voters were 45 years old or older. It is also an effective method in order to reach exactly those regions were undecided voters live who have to be convinced, the so called Swing States are where presidents are really decided.