TO: Candidate Smith

FROM: Daniel Miller, Campaign Consultant

DATE: February 8, 2015
SUBJECT: 2012 Presidential Election Analysis
This memo will be an analysis of the 2012 Presidential Election
and why President Obama was so successful. Specifically, this
memo will be analyzing the demographics of the swing states,
Florida and Colorado, the comparison of the Obama and Romney
media campaigns of 2012, analysis of select campaign videos from
the 2012 election as well as my final recommendations for the
Smith Campaign.
Obama and Romney Media Campaign 2012
Obama spent more in internet campaigning than Romney did in 2012
by a 10:1 difference. Obama spent 42 million whereas Romney only
spent 4.7 million. The Obama campaign had a feeling that
internet campaigning would be the thing to do. There was also
tweeting with hashtags telling you who voted for who, such as
#Obama or #Romney. The staff over at Daily Download mentioned
that if you saw your Uncle, or someone you know or admire voted
for a specific candidate, you would have some sort of connection
with them. If you saw someone vote for someone you didn't like,
then you could unfriend or unfollow them. This added a whole
different style of campaigning than the public was used to. The
Obama campaign surprised the Romney campaign with the amount of
social media presence they had during the 2012 election campaign.
2012 Campaign Videos
Obama and Romney both took similar approaches to their campaign
videos in 2012. They both used emotional music to capture the
attention of potential voters as well as give reasons why you
should vote for the respected candidate. The difference of the
two candidates are that Obama tended to use celebrity presence in
his videos to sway people to vote for him. Whereas Romney used
his attachment to God and his Catholicism to gain votes. Out of
the four videos that were analyzed, two of them stuck out the
most and are as followed.
1. In this video, the Obama campaign used logos of the Obama
Biden campaign as well as used celebrity appeal. This ad

contained multiple celebrities like Olivia Wylde and Zac

Braff. Their voices are all very uplifting and enthusiastic
about getting out and voting. They talked about stories
they had with the I Voted Stickers and what it meant to
them. The music used in this ad was soft and emotional with
a sense of encouragement. The producers definitely want you
to feel encouraged to get out and vote and then with the
Obama Biden logo at the end, they point you towards voting
for President Obama. I say this because the music and the
celebrity appeal, especially since I grew up watching Zac
Braff on Scrubs, it made me excited and more enthusiastic
about voting.
2. For this video, the Romney campaign used an image that read,
5 reasons to vote for Mitt Romney. It then shows one,
two, three, four, and five on the right hand side with
videos of Romney at speeches or live debates playing for
each number. At the end there is the Romney campaign logo
saying that Catholics support Romney. The music is very
deep and affectionate. Romneys voice in the videos were
believing and uplifting. The producers want you to vote for
Romney and they want you to believe that he will be the
better of the two Presidents. It appeals more to Catholics
than others. I say this mainly in the tone of Romneys
voice, as well as the music being played. I think the ad is
very effective, however this ad is targeted more towards
Catholic people as mentioned above and that can alienate
others easily.
Swing State Analysis
The two swing states being analyzed here are Florida and
Colorado. Colorado has a higher population percentage of White
Americans whereas Florida is a more diverse state. According to
The Struggle for Democracy by Edward Greenberg, minority groups
tend to have a higher percentage of democrats than of White
Americans, with the Black population at the highest. The
demographics of the two swing states are as followed.
1. Florida: White (75%) Black or African American (16%)
American Indian and Alaska Native (0.4%) Asian (2.4%)
Hispanic (21.5%)
2. Colorado: White (82.8%) Black or African American (3.8%)
American Indian and Alaska Native (1%) Asian (2.2%) Hispanic
(17.1%)

My final recommendations are as follows. Considering that Obama

dominated in the social media aspect of the 2012 campaigns and
considering that he won his second term, it is safe to say that
the Smith Campaign needs to put a large portion of funding into
social media outlets such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook,
creating hashtags such as #Smith or #Voteforsmith. In terms of
campaign videos, having a celebrity presence helps grab an
audience of followers. It is best to choose a celebrity whom is
neutral in society, meaning they have not done anything extremely
risky in their life as a celebrity. That way we dont risk
losing followers in the process. It is also safe to say that the
Smith Campaign should not identify with one group such as Romney
identifying mainly with religious groups. Uplifting music should
be used in campaign videos and images of our campaign logo should
be placed in the video, preferably near the end. With the
majority of minority groups being democrat, it is important that
we identify with certain groups by promising changes in areas
that certain groups may appreciate, such as border issues or, in
recent news, with the racial tensions with Police Officers. In
regards with the swing states of Florida and Colorado it is best
to focus on minority groups with Florida and White Americans with
Colorado. The 2016 Presidential Campaign should be somewhat
similar to that of 2012 in terms of social media presence and
needs of ethnic groups.

Attachments: Suarez, Ray. "Watch Now: PBS NewsHour | Obama Spent

10 Times as Much on Social Media as Romney | PBS Video." PBS
Video. November 16, 2012. Accessed February 2, 2015.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2305745720/.
"5 Reasons To Vote For Mitt Romney." YouTube. November 4, 2012.
Accessed February 6, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=egeCG7aOTb0.
"The "I Voted" Sticker - OFA North Carolina." YouTube. November
4, 2012. Accessed February 6, 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWYq1m2WBLk.
American Fact Finder. Florida. ONLINE. 2010. Census Bureau.
Available:
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.
xhtml [7 Feb. 2015].
American Fact Finder. Colorado. ONLINE. 2010. Census Bureau.
Available:

http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.
xhtml [7 Feb. 2015].
Greenberg, Edward S., and Benjamin I. Page. The Struggle for
Democracy. 2012 Election ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education, 2014.