AFSCME: Act Now! Campaign
www.actnow.org
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the nation's largest and fastest growing public service employees union.
The Challenge
In late 2005, Congress put forth a budget and tax cut proposal targeting a range of public programs that support low-income and working Americans. In response, AFSCME and the Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities—a coalition of organizations—turned to Beaconfire to quickly launch a campaign focused on creating an activist network to stop those proposed cuts. AFSCME and its partners needed a venue to create solidarity among opponents of the proposal and to deliver a swift and unified message to Capitol Hill.
The Solution
Beaconfire worked with AFSCME and its partners to deliver a full-scale nationwide public awareness campaign—within a short two-week timeframe. ActNow.org, the Web site for the Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities, which launched in October 2005, united concerned citizens from across the country through “mash-up technology”—a powerful combination of tools allowing Web site visitors to map their advocacy actions on a large Google Map and send customized activist messages right to the inboxes of members of Congress. The result? The campaign was successful in changing the minds of a dozen U.S. Representatives who otherwise would have voted in support of the cuts.
How did the campaign work? Activists were encouraged to plant virtual “yard signs” containing unique campaign slogans on a large interactive Google Map. Constituents then were able not only to virtually survey their neighborhoods to learn about the concentrations of activists there, but also share the web address of their personalized maps with others. Within just a few days after launch of the campaign, the effort had generated 20,000 signs posted on Google Maps.
Another innovative strategy continued to fuel the growth in number of campaign participants: an iPod contest. Beaconfire developed the contest to award an iPod to the activist responsible for getting the most signs planted as a result of sharing his/her campaign urls with friends. This contest drummed up support to the tune of more than 10,000 additional participants—an average rate of four friends taking action and planting signs upon learning about the campaign. The heavy pass-along and viral marketing component continues to pull in activists—so far 30,000 Americans have planted virtual yard signs.
Most recently, Beaconfire launched an advocacy-oriented Flash movie, lampooning tax and budget cuts, in a parody of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Beaconfire has re-purposed creative materials such as call-to-action e-mails, banners, and buttons for ongoing outreach in defense of campaign priorities.
Check out the campaign site at www.actnow.org.