During this year’s presidential election, technology has supplemented the traditional forms of advertising, political rallies and grassroots efforts. Earlier this year, Obama made headlines for using a Short Message Service (SMS), otherwise known as mobile texting, to announce his vice president running mate.

In addition to text messaging, both candidates have relied on other forms of digital communication to inform voters by using social networking sites, blogs, widgets and emails.

Despite the wide range of mediums currently used, the candidates continue to seek new and innovative ways to advertise their name before Election Day.

The Obama campaign sought an opportunity to reach out to younger voters among the 18-35 year old demographic. The resulting solution was to incorporate election advertisements and messages into online video games, specifically games played on the Microsoft Xbox 360 Internet console.

Advertisements as well as the campaigns colors and logos appear on various billboards and background images in games such as NASCAR 09, NBA Live 08, Need For Speed and NFL Tour.

Obama is the first presidential candidate to advertise within a video game but it has been a common practice among product advertisers since the inception of the system.

With over ten million Xbox 360 units sold in the United States, the campaign hopes the subtle advertising will create awareness about the candidate and encourage younger citizens to vote for the Obama ticket.

Consequently, the advertisements have been placed in the games accessed by swing state voters such as Colorado, Florida and Iowa.

This most recent example of creatively communicating to voters during a presidential race establishes the significance of the Internet and continued evolution of integrating technology to create a multi-platform campaign to target diverse audiences.

Original Post Date – 10/24/2008