For Ontarians who can’t wait to get to the polls, Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K) has launched a new-and-improved election predictor for the 2014 provincial election.
Called “the hockey pool of the political world,” the predictor allows people to make predictions by inputting their estimates of the percentage of votes each party will get. The idea is to let people have a little fun while also helping H+K stand out from its competitors.
“We know that politics and public policy affect all of our clients,” said Cathy Worden, vice-president of public affairs at H+K. “It might not be the topline thing they partner with us on, but at some point, every client is affected by government… We want to show what we have in terms of our chops in public affairs.”
The predictor is created using data from the most recent election and polling data. If a user increases the percentage of votes for any one party, the other parties’ percentage will shift downwards proportionate to one another. These percentages will then be used to determine how many ridings will be won across the province.
H+K first launched the election predictor in 2004. The redesigned site is now fully optimized for iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Android devices. A number of other updates were made, including giving users the opportunity to add their comments with each prediction and share their predictions through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The predictor also now gives the option to lock certain ridings, if they are known to be strongholds for certain parties.
The update was done entirely in-house, led by H+K account director and “technical mastermind” Corey Hogan.
H+K is promoting the election predictor through their own social media channels, including LinkedIn and Twitter. The predictor will be available until the June 12, 2014—election day in Ontario.
