Text Reminders A Winner For Young Scottish Voters

TxtLocal (http://www.txtlocal.com) is celebrating the recent success of its text reminder campaign for the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) Scotland, targeted at prospective voters in the May local council elections. Promoted in The Scottish Sun before the elections, the campaign was aimed at young voters in particular and highlighted the introduction of the new Single Transferable Vote in Scotland.

UK (PRWEB) May 19, 2007 -- TxtLocal (http://www.txtlocal.com) is celebrating the recent success of its text reminder campaign for the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) Scotland, targeted at prospective voters in the May local council elections. Promoted in The Scottish Sun before the elections, the campaign was aimed at young voters in particular and highlighted the introduction of the new Single Transferable Vote in Scotland.

By texting VOTE to 60777 to subscribe to the service, participants automatically signed up to receive two reminders on polling day advising them when and how to vote. As an added incentive, all participants were entered into a prize draw to win a 'Voteswagon' VW Golf.

Amy Rodger, Director of ERS Scotland, explained: "We wanted as many people as possible to get out and vote, and to know how to vote validly. The chance to win a car was a new way of attracting people's attention."

Thousands of people signed up to the service in total, supporting new research commissioned by the ERS Scotland which indicated that text reminders and information could play a significant part in contributing to higher voter turnout, particularly among young people.

David Orr, Scottish Youth and Campaigns Officer with ERS Scotland said: "Our research suggested that text reminders are far more likely to encourage young people to vote in an election than a variety of other more traditional methods, including radio, television and billboard advertising."

Darren Daws of TxtLocal said: "As the UK's leading online SMS service, we were delighted to handle the ERS Scotland text reminder campaign. It goes to show that SMS messaging can have a real impact on the serious business of motivating the public to vote, using a medium to which young people can relate. SMS marketing is cost-effective, immediate, high-reach and responsive - and its potential to promote higher voting turnout in the future is huge."

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