During the 2012 election cycle, we had the opportunity to experiment different methods for reaching the unique target audience for the Crossroads Generation super PAC — 18-29 year-old voters. The recently released postmortem report from the College Republican National Committee — “Grand Old Party for a Brand New Generation” — highlights the success of XG’s innovative tactics, such as hyper-targeted mobile ads at college football games, promoted tweets during the MTV Movie Awards, and hashtag campaigns like #PaulRyanFacts. The methods of advertising set XG apart from any other right-leaning political group or campaign.

In the CRNC report, a survey of millennials showed 9 out of 10 young voters use a cell phone at least once a week. This presented us with the opportunity to capitalize on their behavior and put XG’s message in front of them. We used hyper-targeted mobile ads that reached mobile users within a one-mile radius of a central location, like a football stadium or city park. Beginning with the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago and carrying into football season, we targeted locations where millennials were gathering and served them XG banner ads on their mobile devices. Time magazine highlighted the campaign as one of the ways technology is changing political advertising.

To continue capitalizing on events, we ran a series of promoted tweets during the MTV Movie Awards that were specifically written to connect the nominated movies to facts millennials could relate with. For example, “It’s easier to win the Hunger Games than it is to get a job in the Obama economy.” The campaign received a record level of engagement for XG.

Looking forward, we now apply what we learned from XG’s success to other digital campaigns. We always consider the potential return on a mobile ad campaign and are constantly hunting for breaking news events or pieces of pop culture we can use to increase engagement on social channels. Let us innovate with your next digital campaign. The sky’s the limit.