--- title: "Charting a Fictitious Advertising Campaign’s Viral Boost" id: "17575" type: "post" slug: "charting-a-fictitious-advertising-campaigns-viral-boost" published_at: "2013-05-28T20:44:46+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-15T20:18:43+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2013/05/28/charting-a-fictitious-advertising-campaigns-viral-boost/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2013/05/28/charting-a-fictitious-advertising-campaigns-viral-boost.md" excerpt: "The Outdoor Advertising Association of America recently sponsored a test campaign asking people to vote for the next president to be added to Mt. Rushmore to measure the ability of outdoor advertising to drive social and mobile activity." taxonomy_category: - "Marketing / Communications" taxonomy_post_tag: - "Advertising" - "AI" - "AssociationsNow" - "Business" - "OOH" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "C-Level" - "Executive Team" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Charting a Fictitious Advertising Campaign’s Viral Boost Who should be the next face etched into Mt. Rushmore? That was the question posed in a fictitious advertising campaign sponsored by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America to test the value of out-of-home (OOH) advertisements in driving social and mobile activity. > This relatively small OOH campaign drove online traffic from across the country. The RushmoreVote campaign placed 164 ads on billboards and bus shelters in Cincinnati, San Antonio, Phoenix, and Sacramento, California, and asked consumers to go online to vote for the president they thought should be the face added to Mt. Rushmore. They were given the choice of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, or no one—Mt. Rushmore should remain the same. The four-week campaign, which ran in March 2013, generated 17,681 online user sessions, 15,679 of which were unique. Two-thirds of online voters came from outside the four metro areas where the ads were posted, and 75 percent said they saw the ad on a billboard or bus shelter. “This relatively small OOH campaign drove online traffic from across the country,” OAAA President and CEO Nancy Fletcher [said in a statement (opens in a new tab)](http://www.oaaa.org/NewsEvents/News/PressReleases/tabid/327/id/3852/Default.aspx) . “Even those who learned about the campaign online were aware it originated on OOH ads, painting a clear picture of the medium’s role in today’s evolving interactive landscape.” In case you’re wondering, a majority of voters—69 percent—said no one should be added to Mt. Rushmore, while 11 percent voted to add George W. Bush and 20 percent voted to add Barack Obama. Why a fake campaign around Mt. Rushmore? Stephen Freitas, chief marketing officer at OAAA, said the association wanted something attention grabbing that also wouldn’t cause confusion around a product due to its fictitious nature, and coming off the presidential election last fall, Mt. Rushmore seemed relevant. OAAA also decided to keep its name out of the campaign, Freitas said. “We just wanted these mysterious messages going up to sort of attract people’s attention and see how they respond.” Ultimately, “we wanted to test and prove that out-of-home advertising can be a central, integral part of a social advertising program,” he added. (via the RushmoreVote Facebook page) [Katie Bascuas](https://associationsnow.com/author/katie-bascuas/) Katie Bascuas is a former associate editor at Associations Now in Washington, DC. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/katie-bascuas/) Tags: [#Advertising](https://associationsnow.com/tag/advertising/) [#AI](https://associationsnow.com/tag/ai/) [#Business](https://associationsnow.com/tag/business/) [#OOH](https://associationsnow.com/tag/ooh/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [PodcastAssociations Now Presents: Beyond the Tech Stack: How AI Is Changing the Association PlaybookOctober 29, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/10/29/associations-now-presents-beyond-the-tech-stack-how-ai-is-changing-the-association-playbook/) - [PodcastAssociations NOW Presents: More Than Marketing: The Power of Strategic CommunicationsJuly 30, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/07/30/associations-now-presents-more-than-marketing-the-power-of-strategic-communications/) - [PodcastAssociations NOW Presents: Why Slower Marketing Can Drive Stronger Member Engagement (Episode 27)June 25, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/06/25/associations-now-presents-why-slower-marketing-can-drive-stronger-member-engagement-episode-27/) - [TemplateMembers onlyMember Onboarding ToolkitNovember 5, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/11/05/member-onboarding-toolkit/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2013%2F05%2F28%2Fcharting-a-fictitious-advertising-campaigns-viral-boost%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !