2024 Silver Creative Solution

Agency: Ogilvy UK

Client: My Life My Say

Entry Title: You Already Vote, So Vot

Executive Summary

Since Brexit, turnout to elections in Britain have been falling - and young people are the least likely to vote. This generation ‘don't like to vote’. But the reality is, they love voting.

Strategy

With Mayoral elections looming, the team needed to tackle political disinterest to encourage young Brits to get on the electoral roll. A non-partisan campaign to 18- to 34-year-olds was needed ahead of the registration deadline.

Using behavioural science the team identified voting barriers and opportunities. First, it showed that the underlying problem of youth turnout to the polling stations is a consequence of Voter Registration: the electoral roll campaign was key.

Meanwhile, young people have a growing sense of frustration and powerlessness that leads to apathy to voting. They needed motivating to make decisions.

The key insight was that this demographic actually love to vote: they are 68% more likely to do so for reality TV shows than in elections. If they vote to change the lives of strangers on TV, they could care to vote to change their own lives.

Creativity

A powerful call-to-action ensued: ‘You already vote, so vote.’ But to cut through to an apathetic audience, it needed the right messengers. Who better to encourage young people to vote than the people they've already voted for? Some of reality TV’s biggest stars - from Sharon Gaffka of Love Island to Will Best from Big Brother - encouraged their army of followers to ‘vote again’, this time ‘for themselves’.

The audience was encouraged to register in the moment they would feel most compelled to act: the last two days before registration closed. To create a sense of urgency, celebrities reminded people about the deadline day and asked their followers to register on the spot.

Celebrities shared their messages across all their social channels, such as Instagram, X and Snapchat. Scannable OOH that evoked memorable reality TV shows moments and linked them to important issues directly affecting young people hit the streets of the country, showing up where young people would be. The campaign film was narrated by the iconic voice of Big Brother Marcus Bentley in cinemas across the capital. Talent went to live TV sofas, breakfast shows and news desks, sharing the message along with My Life My Say spokespeople.

Results

The work created a national debate about youth voting in Britain. The campaign was picked up by national press, radio and TV, delivering a combined earned reach of 1.7 billion. OOH delivered over 1.3 million impacts and 15,762 QR code scans in one day.

My Life My Say generated more conversation and engagement on social than any other voter registration organisation, making up 69% of the share of voice - surpassing the official registration campaign from the UK Government.

As earned impressions grew, so did voter registrations. 113,044 people aged 18 to 34 registered to vote within just 24 hours of our campaign going live: a 350% surge compared to the previous day and a 90% rise compared to 2021 Mayoral elections.