Considering Super Tuesday hasn't settled who will run for US President on the Democratic or Republican ticket, mobile advertising may be an effective way for candidates to change voter attitudes and voting behavior, according to a report from Limbo, reports MarketingCharts.

A January SMS advertising campaign the firm conducted for Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama delivered over one million SMS impressions across the two campaigns, Limbo said.

"The campaigns scored 53 percent awareness, in line with other SMS programs, but higher than might be expected from traditional forms of media. The overall impact was considerable, with 28 percent altering their voting intentions," said Limbo CMO Rob Lawson

Among the key findings:

• Change in voting intention:
  • 6 percent of those surveyed after the campaigns said that the advertising had changed their voting intentions significantly.
  • This was highest for men, at 7 percent; those aged 35+, at 7 percent; and African Americans, at 9 percent.
  • An additional 22 percent said their intentions had been changed a little.
• Change in perception of the candidate:
  • 14 percent said that their perceptions of the candidate was now more positive than before seeing the campaign, with 4 percent saying it was now more negative - a net 10 percent increase in positive perception.
  • Barack Obama saw the biggest uplift, with a net gain of 16 percent.

• As well as changing impressions of the candidates, the campaigns also functioned to drive greater interaction with the candidate across other paid and non-paid media:
  • 37 percent paid more attention to news coverage about the candidate.
  • 12 percent became more aware of other marketing for the candidate.
  • 7 percent visited the candidate's website, with a further 24 percent intending to do so in the future.
  • 5 percent visited the candidate's mobile internet site, with a further 9 percent intending to do so in the future

Because SMS is a direct medium and prone to be considered intrusive, Limbo asked recipients of the campaign how happy they were to see the candidates advertised through the service:

• 56 percent of people said they were happy to receive the ads.
• 13 percent would have preferred not to see SMS advertising from political candidates.
• Men were more comfortable than women with the campaigns.
• The 25-34-year age bracket was the most happy with the campaigns.