The digitally democratic campaign of Puma Shen

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator and Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) campaign — officially called “The Taipei Current” (洋流) in English, also referred to as the “Ocean Wave,” as the third character in Shen’s name, yang (洋), means “ocean” — has leveraged digital and Internet tools. Rather than using them as one-way channels, his team has combined social media engagement, gamified organizing, online-to-offline mobilization and the organic spread of subcultural memes to drive an unconventional campaign model that has culminated in the “Ocean Wave” of support.

The campaign has broken through echo chambers and attracted record-breaking digital traffic. Media personality and politician Jaw Shaw-kong’s (趙少康) YouTube interview with Shen earlier this month attracted a live audience of more than 140,000 at its peak and amassed more that 1.1 million views within 24 hours. This six-fold surge showed that Shen has caught the attention of many pan-blue and centrist voters, demonstrating his ability to break out of his bubble.

Shen has also gamified his campaign efforts. In line with the nautical theme of the “Ocean Wave,” supporters are able to enter the “crew room” through Shen’s Line account to obtain a digital “crew ID card,” which unlocks maps and campaign information, giving young people a sense of involvement that keeps them participating. When tickets for front-row seats at the campaign headquarters’ inauguration rally became available for reservation, more than 50,000 people applied immediately, generating as many as 400 clicks per second. Within 30 seconds, all spots were filled, demonstrating the campaign’s extraordinary online rallying power.

Shen has tactically timed “online-to-offline” pop-up events, announcing speeches and appearances at markets on social media with only about an hour’s warning. That helps prevent die-hard supporters from traveling across districts to participate in multiple events, and yet, Shen draws hundreds or even thousands of people each time. It is a strategy that converts online buzz into physical gatherings, while giving local voters priority access in their own areas.

Shen has also leveraged social media, with his follower count on Threads surpassing 620,000 and his impressions reaching 56.1 million over the past 30 days. Among Taiwanese political figures, this puts him behind only former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). He has been known to reference Naruto and One Piece to connect with younger audiences. When Shen’s campaign team reportedly confiscated his phone to encourage him to rest for half an hour, he still ended up in a livestream’s chat room engaging with the public from his computer.

Lastly, there has been supporter-driven promotional content for Shen, and the spread of the so-called “Ocean Current Economics” (洋流經濟) — a term that emerged to describe the phenomenon of supportive night market vendors selling out. A digital version of the official Soon Daily (順報) campaign magazine has been available for readers to download and share online. Supporters chased designs that resembled the blue floral shirt Shen was wearing at a campaign event in Kaohsiung last month, and cosmetic retailers reportedly sold out of the South Korean face mask he mentioned in a livestream earlier this month. Each viral instance generated further organic exposure.

Shen has moved beyond the traditional model of paid advertising and unilateral communication toward a digital-social ecosystem characterized by high engagement, gamification and online-offline integration. This has been the key to his ability to sustain high levels of public attention, and attract centrist voters and younger audiences.

Hsu Chi-hsiang is an immigration professional.

Translated by Gilda Knox Streader