Market research company TNS Gallup Denmark teamed with mobile marketing platform Lumi Mobile to use a real-time polling application to capture results of a recent Danish national election.

Using the app, Danish political parties were able to look at how voters reacted to politicians during a series of televised debates. The technology is powered by Lumi Mobile.

“Traditionally, political research is done on the street with volunteers, but now we are reaching people exactly where they are,” said Rolfe Swinton, cofounder and director of Lumi Mobile, London.

“Any edge a political party can get over what voters are thinking the better,” he said.

TNS Gallup Denmark is a unit of European market research group Kantar Media.

Lumi Mobile is a mobile platform that helps brands and companies capture real-time information about consumers via mobile polling.

Engaged voters
TNS Gallup Denmark used an app to gain better insights into the voting behavior of Danish residents during a set of nine televised debates.

During the speeches, a few hundred Danish voters were surveyed and asked to use the VoteCast app.

The VoteCast app was used leading up to the Danish parliamentary elections on Sept. 15.

Before each debate, participants used mobile polls to answer questions about their political opinions.

The app also asked consumers for a few brief questions about their demographics.

Then, during the debates, participants tracked their opinions using the app.

The political parties were able to gather real-time information about how successful individual messages were to consumers during the debate.

“There is data that says that 50 percent of people are watching TV with their mobile device in hand,” Mr. Swinton said.

“With this campaign, political polling gave the parties a fresh insight into what was going on,” he said.

Instant votes
TNS Gallup Denmark’s use of mobile polling is an example of the growing importance of mobile in everyday life.

By using data from mobile devices while consumers are already interacting with media, the research company is able to leverage its findings in real time.

TNS Gallup Denmark is not the only company using mobile with political campaigns.

In 2008, SMS played a major role during the election of President Obama (see story).

In addition to the Danish campaigns, Lumi Mobile’s solution has been used by a variety of companies to gage consumer interest, including retailers and broadcasters.

“Regardless of who won the debate, the political parties could see where one candidate was more effective in keeping consumers engaged during the debate,” Mr. Swinton said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York