The UK may finally have seen the end of what has turned out to be a laborious 3 years which has culminated in a 3rd general election in the last five. The Constant uncertainty surrounding the political future of the nation has kept dinner conversation heated, office chat stimulating and in some cases pillow talk interesting. One thing is for certain, where there is opinion, where there is debate and where there is argument there is always room for a vote. Mobivate and the author think it would be interesting to look at the impact of the simple SMS and its impact on voting and voting patterns, timing is everything do you agree? – text your answer to …………

Political parties have long been challenged at campaign time to maximize reach enhance share of voice, communicate policy and probably most importantly fund raise. Each of these has come with a set of complicated regulatory scenarios often resulting in underperformance and underwhelming results. Taking of course Geo-Political appetite differentiation for this type of campaigning into account as well as regional regulatory constraints the value of SMS and more importantly bulk SMS in achieving a balanced, efficient, cost effective, powerful and penetrating campaign messages is unrivalled. Let us not be ignorant either of the huge impact SMS could have in driving the more lethargic voter to the polls with real time encouragement and popular manifesto stimulus. I guess we need to ask the question, will we ever move towards a political environment that entertains voting by SMS? At a bulk level voter numbers will be unsurpassed, and we already allow for postal votes in what is a pretty archaic electoral system. The quagmire of security issues aside, the wrangling around measurement of impact and yes that hideous elephant in every room of data protection considered could we not vote by text in the UK in the future?

Text the many not a few – I just wrote the campaign strap line! – or has that been done? What about - Get Texting – Done?

Britain and the world watched the UK Parliaments Brexit posturing unfold in the commons with the same uncomfortable demeanor as a parent having to witness a poor performance from a child in a school talent show. Hard to watch but still followed by copious congratulatory comments and faux pats on the back. All with gritted teeth and a modicum of embarrassment. In order to get to where we are today 3 years down the road finally with an end in sight, the UKs MPs political figures and their support teams have been called on to return to Westminster on several occasions or even be sent home from Westminster on others in order to progress political opinion influence political debate or VOTE ! Every time the circus is required to put on a show and entertain the public. Imagine being able to as an MP send an SMS to your constituency, get real time feedback and vote accordingly, we can do it with pizza why not opinion? – Tongue firmly placed in cheek!

The number of Non-Governmental organizations who effect policy and yet are able to garnish public opinion through digital platforms like SMS is growing all the time. The corporates, the banks and yes even the celebrities who in 2019 demonstrated a clear penchant for twitter with the likes of Hugh Grant, Stormzy, Gary Neville and others making clear their political persuasion. Imagine a text from Stormzy to a young 20 something telling him to go and vote X. The impact of relatability via SMS could be a game changer, no longer an opinion share via twitter to a proactive, socially mobile, media savvy uni student, but a text to millions of 20 something rap and grime fans perhaps unsure of what the future may hold encouraging them that their voice counts get out and vote today, oh and by the way this is how Stormzy is voting!

As the year ends , this author will reflect on whether his vote did really count, and upon reflection sadly it did not. Alex Scott never won Strictly come dancing and Ian Wright was not the winner of I’m a celebrity get me out of here, in both cases my multiple texts and SMS activity still proved unsuccessful, somebody voted/ texted more than me. – Go Figure!