PÚCA NEWS

Púca hits the campaign trail

With the General Election in Ireland looming, the major political parties have been looking for ways to steal a march on their rivals. In former times, this might have meant putting even more feet on the street and knocking on more doors but these days mobile technology is seen as playing an increasingly important role in 'mobilising' the electorate.

The Labour Party thinks so anyway because, with Puca’s help, it has just launched a free SMS service that aims to open up new lines of communication with Labour voters and potential voters – becoming the first Irish political party to do so.

The party has included three keywords – 'Change', 'Labour' and 'Pat Rabbitte' – on its outdoor posters and other advertising. On sending a text to a keyword, voters get back two return texts – the first an automated message acknowledging their enquiry, the second specific information about the party and its policies.

Although Labour is the first Irish political party to use SMS, its namesakes in other countries have been doing so for some time. In the 2003 General Election, the New Zealand Labour Party invited voters to chat with MPs via SMS, while the British Labour Party has for some time encouraged voters to use SMS to join the party and donate.

Want to find out more? Just email sales@puca.com