Ted Cruz rocks the web with game-style app

More than any other campaign application for mobile tech users, Cruz Crew has exploded with more than 15,000 downloads in the first three months since it was launched, the campaign told Secrets.

It’s just the latest sign that the 2016 presidential campaign is happening online, out of the media spotlight, and some like Cruz are especially good at making it connect with Millennials.

Already a big player on Periscope and other digital avenues, Cruz first launched a crowdfunding platform called “Cruz Crowd” that pushed small donations to the campaign.

Then three months ago, they scored another run with Cruz Crew which the campaign said has boosted social engagement with the Republican candidate.

The app, with users in every state, encourages supporters to communicate with friends about the Cruz campaign. For example, the digital activists have sent over 100,000 invitations to volunteer for the senator, donate, promote him on social media and attend events via the app since August.

It is somewhat like a game in that it offers points to users and features a competition for the top collector of “action points.” So far, it has awarded more than 2.5 million action points to users for for sending more than 100,000 invites and performing over 67,000 additional individual actions through the app, according to uCampaign, the company behind the new app.

It is offered through Apple and Android stores. Cruz’s campaign said that Californian Darrell Greenwald tops the Cruz Crew leader board, with more than 50,000 action points from inviting over 2,200 of his friends to support the candidate. He is expected to be the first to unlock the new “Patriot” badge when the next version of the app is launched.

Cruz Crowd works in a similar way to raise money. Here’s how the campaign explains it on the crowdfunding site:

By joining #CruzCrowd, you will become a patriot in our campaign for President of the United States. From there, you can unlock badges by meeting goals in the #CruzCrowd Challenge. Goals are met by recruiting other patriots to the cause, making donations (of any size), and even unlocking a few secret codes. Each patriot will have his/her own #CruzCrowd page. The page will allow you to monitor the recruits you sign up and the dollars raised by your larger network of patriots.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].