Political advocacy group Campus Progress this week launched a cross-media ad campaign advocating for relief of student loan debts. The campaign draws heavily on both mobile texting and online spots.
The campaign includes streaming video ads that will run on WashingtonPost.NewsweekInteractive properties WashingtonPost.com and Slate.com, but are targeted specifically to students; the ads will only
be shown to visitors coming from ".edu" IP addresses. The campaign, which promotes the advocacy group's Web site, DebtHitsHard.org, also includes three 30-second in-theater ads that are airing in
multiplexes in nine major cities. Ads direct users to text the word "debt" to a shortcode number, which will then prompt them for their e-mail address and ZIP code. For every user who replies, Campus
Progress--which is a division of the Center for American Progress--e-mails that user's member of Congress, asking the representative to support debt relief for college students. David Halperin,
director of Campus Progress, said that the organization thought college students would connect with the mobile components of the campaign. The short code component of the campaign also provides a call
to action for the in-theater ads, allowing viewers to immediately get more information, rather than waiting until they get home to their computers, Halperin said.
