The 2023 Textie Awards: Celebrating The Best of P2P Texting in 2022

The Textie Awards are dedicated to recognizing excellent use of peer-to-peer (P2P) texting.

From one political cycle to the next, P2P texting has continued to establish its firm foothold in political tech, fundamentally changing how many campaigns and organizations approach campaigning.

Inspired by this, we created the Textie Awards in 2021 to showcase innovative uses of P2P texting and celebrate those who achieved their goals through the successful integration of texting.

And now, the Textie Awards are back to celebrate excellent texting in the midterm cycle! 

The Texties are dedicated to highlighting excellent use cases of P2P texting by leading campaigns and organizations using RumbleUp and partner whitelabel platforms across the country. Winners of the Textie Awards are recognized as leaders in the industry for their effective use of innovative technology in their awarded category. 

After thorough judging by a panel of campaign experts, we are proud to announce the three best-in-text winners of the second-ever Textie Awards!

The 2023 Textie Awards Category 1 – Best Reply of 2022

"Election Machine Up Here in Rancho Riata for You" submitted by the Committee to Elect Eric Eisinger

During the closing month of his campaign for county prosecutor, Eric Eisinger could no longer door knock after working his day job since it began getting dark at 4 pm. Unfortunately, he had fallen ill during this time as well.  

In this final stretch, Eisinger focused all his energy on texting. He wanted to continue personally connecting with voters despite being unable to do so in person. 

Eisinger texted over 70k voters in his county and replied to hundreds of conversations. To thank supporters in a timely manner, he utilized our Tap-Then-Send response technology.

However, a few of these replies were too clever not to respond to personally. He also received some fantastic questions that provided great interactions. Click the entry title above to see some of these conversations!

Eisinger treated P2P texting as the two-way, personal communication channel it is meant to be. He changed the minds of many voters by simply spending an extra hour to monitor responses and engage personally.

The 2023 Textie Awards Category 2 – Best Video Message

"Defend My Church" submitted by CatholicVote

There has been a sustained campaign of attacks against Catholic churches in America, with over 200 reported acts of vandalism and violence from 2020 to the present day. 

According to CatholicVote, local police departments currently do not have the resources to fight this nationwide pattern of violence. CatholicVote is driven to elect a Republican majority that will use oversight authority to get the DOJ to act and  give their organization a hearing to address this issue.

Churches in Hispanic areas have been especially targeted, and CatholicVote wanted to convey this message to Hispanic voters. They did not want a typical political ad with images of politicians and a scary narrator; they wanted it to be cinematic and evoke a visceral reaction. 

CatholicVote used our award-winning Enhanced Video Texting technology to send this made-for-TV ad directly to the voters they wanted to reach, guaranteeing 1-to-1 impressions. 

The ad was sent to Hispanic voters in Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, and Pennsylvania and garnered fervent support for CatholicVote's cause. 

Watch the ad by clicking on the entry title above!

The 2023 Textie Awards Category 3 – Best MMS Message

"Highly Targeted Meet and Greet Invitation Helps Kiggans Secure Victory" submitted by co/efficient

Voter contact with P2P texting was key in helping Jen Kiggans close the gap between herself and the incumbent Elaine Luria to win her election. Co/efficient conducted two polls in September, including one through RumbleUp, that revealed that Luria led Kiggans by eight points in name recognition. Still, Kiggans was polling extremely well with new voters. 

Most of these new voters, who had voted in zero or one of the previous four general elections, came out for the first time in 2021 to vote for Governor Youngkin. Kiggans also performed strongly in an area of VA-02 called Wight Island.

This poll led to the idea of a GOTV ​​Meet and Greet event with Governor Glen Youngkin and Jen Kiggans the week of the election, which became part of a well-executed P2P texting strategy that helped lead Kiggans to victory.

This MMS invitation project specifically targeted new voters shown to be highly enthusiastic about Youngkin. Adding a picture, GIF, or video attachment has been shown to increase engagement and response rates by 50%, which is why the co/efficient team opted to add one for this high-stakes event. 

Because of the smart targeting and tailored messaging, this texting project played a crucial role in helping Kiggans win an election that was far from a "sure thing."

Kiggans won her election to Congress in VA-02 by 4%, even though Luria outspent her by more than $7 million.

Best Overall Texting Program of The 2023 Textie Awards

"Election Machine Up Here in Rancho Riata for You" submitted by the Committee to Elect Eric Eisinger

Eric Eisiner's use of texting in his campaign inspired our judges for several reasons. 

He had to overcome many factors working against him. Not only was he a first time candidate for public office, but his opponent had the endorsement of the previous prosecutor who left office after 36 years of service.

Another obstacle Eisinger faced was limited campaign funds. With just $23,000 to fund his entire campaign, Eisinger had to invest in the most powerful and cost-effective strategies available to him. 

He sent his direct-to-camera GOTV EVT that was filmed on his smartphone to around 70,000 voters, costing only $6000. The video helped build Eisinger’s name ID, which was critical to gain a competitive edge in this race. 

His efforts to connect with voters through his video and personally converse with them made a difference on election day.

Eisinger won his election by just 2,085 votes, or 3.13%!

Closing Thoughts

Thank you to all the participants who took part in the 2023 Textie Awards. We look forward to seeing more innovative uses of RumbleUp as P2P texting continues to grow and celebrating more victories like these in the future!

Inspired by how these entries used texting to achieve their goals? Sign up with RumbleUp today at rumbleup.com. If you have more questions about RumbleUp please get in touch with our sales team at (833) 530-4400 or sales@rumbleup.com to discuss how texting can best work for you.