Late Thursday, Mitt Romney’s campaign sent an email to supporters with the subject line “My Vice President." For those opening the email hoping, or expecting, to find out the identity of Romney's running mate, the body of the email was a disappointment. Instead of learning who would be Romney's choice for VP, supporters were met with a fundraising pitch asking them to donate in exchange for a chance to meet the eventual Vice Presidential nominee.
The “My Vice President” email is just the latest in a series of emails from the Romney campaign seeming to reveal the identity of the VP pick, but asking for money or app downloads instead. There have been at least seven such emails, coming from everyone from Romney's campaign manager Matt Rhoades, to VP search leader Beth Myers, to Romney himself.
Body of Romney's "My Vice President" email
"I personally think it's a poor tactic," said Jeff Rice of research firm Marketing Sherpa in a phone interview Friday. Rice, an independent, recently completed a study on presidential campaign email marketing and explained that campaigns fall far short when it comes to segmenting their email lists based on what their subscribers are interested in.
"I'm not a die hard Republican," said Rice. "Maybe that works for that cream of the crop that just absolutely loves Romney and everything he stands for, and it's fine to target those insiders."
But for those looking to just get better informed about a candidate's positions, or policies, Rice said the bait and switch emails would turn them off. "You kind of feel burned," he said. “It makes you wonder if he’s treating me in this manner now, how’s he going to treat me if he’s elected president?”
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