By Kim Choe
An Auckland super city council candidate has turned to technology in a bid to engage with younger voters.
He's capitalising on a device that hardly ever leaves their sides – their cellphones.
There is more to his billboard than first meets the eye; it's fitted with a bluetooth transmitter, and if you come within 40m of it with a bluetooth-enabled cellphone, you can choose to receive a campaign message from Rob Thomas.
"Vote Rob Thomas. I'm an independent candidate with a fresh perspective on local issues," one message says.
The use of bluetooth technology for advertising isn't new, but this is thought to be a first for a political campaign in this country.
Mr Thomas, who is standing for a seat on the new Auckland council, believes it's an effective way to reach the young, technologically-savvy residents of Ponsonby.
“The wards in Auckland are so large that it's really hard to engage with large groups of people. So I wanted to find a technological solution to that,” Mr Thomas says.
The high-tech advertising medium does have its limitations.
“Probably its biggest disadvantage is you have to switch bluetooth on, and a lot of people switch it off because it does consume a lot of battery power,” says digital advertising executive Adam Good.
But, providing passers-by are interested, it's a cheap and effective way of getting a message across.
“It's a permission-led marketing strategy so you would have to opt-in to receive that content. So if you feel that content's going to be compelling or value-add to what the existing message is then yes, people will initiate that and get the content,” Mr Good says.
It's expected that by the end of the election campaign, around 3,000 people will have downloaded the message onto their phones. That's less than four percent of potential voters in this area, but in a local body election, every vote is crucial.
Even in this technological age, Mr Thomas says the most effective way to ensure those votes is the old-fashioned way.
3 News