Ten Things About the Mittens VP App That Make My Eye Twitch

by Jamie Hamilton

Vintage Mitt Romney Art

  1. This is the dumbest reason to have an app. Ever.
  2. Are we really going to find out about the VP before the press? Because I don’t see this campaign ever putting grassroots over press.
  3. The layout and design looks like a vintage Bourbon bottle label. The opposite of the design that should be used on any product from a comms team combating an “old, rich, white guy” narrative.
  4. The campaign sent out emails about how to use this app. Call me crazy, but I think the app should be able to alert me of important info all on its own.
  5. This is the second “one hit wonder” app from RPV. But at least this one is spelled correctly.
  6. Having so many useless apps creates fatigue and decreases the likelihood of people downloading another app in the future.
  7. Obama already did this with texts in ’08. And it was kind of a fail then because his nominee was boring…But I am sure our nominee will not be boring (…sarcasm) and maybe this is actually a good thing because it means we have caught up to that point of campaign strategery. Now the old school design makes a bit more sense.
  8. One function/reason/wonder apps highlight how much the campaign is lacking on the grassroots and base mobilization front. Subtle things like this actually do register with people. They just don’t articulate it in polls.
  9. I already have an app to deliver short breaking news from the campaign. It is called Twitter.
  10. This is the definition of a tactic for the sake of a tactic. And tactics for the sake of tactics are the definition of fail.

Disclaimer: To be clear, data mining is important, however that does not negate the uselessness or dysfunction of this app (or something like that). Nor is data mining an end unto itself. The only reason for me to retract my opinion of the Romney app is if it expands to include more features further into the campaign.

UPDATE: At 1:48 PM the app reminded me that I could sign up to to meet Mitt’s VP. I still stand by my list.

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