In September of last year, Senator Kelly Ayotte and Senator Shelly Moore Capito introduced the Student Loan Relief Act, a bill that would allow borrowers to refinance student loans in the private market. This allows for the borrowers to take advantage of lower interest rates.
One Granite Stater wrote a letter to the editor thanking Ayotte for her bipartisan leadership on the issue:
College isn’t cheap, and working across the aisle isn’t easy, but Sen. Ayotte has managed to lead an important step toward making college more affordable and do so in a bipartisan way. We’d be fortunate to have more senators like Kelly Ayotte that lead in an independent way.
Governor Maggie Hassan attempted to make claims disparaging Ayotte’s strong record on college affordability, but this was called "inaccurate" by Ballotopedia’s fact-checking desk, Verbatim.
The NRSC wanted to highlight Ayotte’s good work supporting college graduates, deciding to promote her affordability plan on Snapchat. 63% of Snapchat users are between the ages 18 to 34 – those most affected by the student loan legislation.
Geofilters
These geofilters ran state-wide and right after graduation season!
We focused on making the geofilters interactive to be more engaging and to encourage the use of the various filters. We also used a wide range of scenes and themes to reach various audiences on Snapchat. At the same time, we wanted to promote Kelly Ayotte and her affordability plan. The geofilters were live during the Fourth of July, so we incorporated the holiday into our filter so it was even more relevant.
Discover Ads
On the consumption portion of the app, we ran ads featured in both Discover and Live Stories. These ads explored what life could be like with Ayotte’s college affordablity plan and less student debt.
[youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EEO-ErwVTI"]
For the ads, we focused on creating interesting and eye-catching content, seeing as Snapchat allows users to skip through ads. We started out with a black and white filter presenting what you can tell is a dismal situation due to an envelope labeled "student loans." After Kelly Ayotte’s college affordability plan goes into effect, things become better and brighter. After refinancing student loans with lower interest rates, savings can be used for vacations, fancy dinners, interview clothes, a better car, or a nicer computer.
Results
The geofilters created some buzz when they first went up:
[tweet src="https://twitter.com/NateRBrand/status/748132499696549888"]
[tweet src="https://twitter.com/caseymcdermott/status/748147809057128453"]
Kelly Ayotte was even able to use it on her own story:
This push comes in a cycle that will largely be targeting younger voters. The NRSC has urged Republican senators to get on Snapchat in order to reach new audiences due to findings that 67% of millennial Snapchat users considered themselves likely to vote November 8. This is not the first time the NRSC has advertised on the app. We previously ran ads in Missouri during the GOP Debate, shattering ad completion records. Watch them below:
[youtube url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxYmAJBbR3Y"]
We will continue to push senators to join us on Snapchat. Here is the list of our current accounts:
The NRSC: thenrsc
Kelly Ayotte: kellyfornh
Roy Blunt: royblunt
Steve Daines: stevedaines
Lindsey Graham: lindseygrahamsc
Joe Heck: Heck4Nevada
Ron Johnson: ronjohnsonwi
Mark Kirk: kirkforsenate
John McCain: teammccain
Jerry Moran: moranforkansas
Lisa Murkowski: lisamurkowski
Rand Paul: senatorrandpaul
Rob Portman: robportman2016
Marco Rubio: marcorubio16
Tim Scott: senatortimscott
Pat Toomey: pattoomey
Todd Young: toddyoungin