YouGov Brief
The aim of this brief for YouGov was to encourage young people (aged 18-24) to vote in the general election. To increase the amount of people registered, ultimately resulting in a higher amount of votes.
The Solution
One reason why people don’t use their vote is because they simply do not understand politics, which was the key message I wanted to portray within the campaign. My idea stemmed from the word ‘ignorant’ which is defined as ‘lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated’. This definition perfectly sums up how many people feel when asked about political arguments. Therefore, I chose to take the well known catch-phrase ‘Ignorance is bliss’ only adding a question mark at the end to change it’s entire context (Ignorance is bliss?). The idea behind this was to challenge people’s perceptions, suggesting that ignorance really isn’t bliss when it comes to politics. People over the age of 18 have the chance to vote for a political party, whom if elected, will have control over how they live their lives. So it is important to get as many people to vote as possible. This campaign is comprised of the following visual materials: direct mail, ad shell, coffee cups, social media gif, television advert and a web page.
The call to action in each instance is ‘put a stop to political ignorance, use your vote wisely. For help visit: yougov.co.uk’. The aim is to drive traffic to the web page specifically designed for the campaign. It’s better to understand these topics so you can do something about them. If you want to have a say into your future then you need to cast your vote.
Limited Edition Coffee Cups
To specifically target young people the advertisements had to be positioned in the correct locations. Therefore, YouGov would team up with Starbucks to produce limited edition coffee cups that incorporated the ‘ignorance is bliss?’ scenarios found on the other platforms, to tie the campaign together.
GIF
Social media is one of the biggest platforms available for reaching out to young people. Therefore, a gif would be used that will automatically play as people scroll over the image on Facebook or Twitter. On first glance it would look just like a still image, however it would start to zoom out revealing people pointing and laughing at the girl for having food stuck in her teeth and round her mouth. To really challenge peoples perceptions of ignorance and whether or not it is a good situation to be in. The Gif would be very short to make it more shareable. The two images below show the original shot and then the zoomed out version that would appear as people scroll over/click on it.
Social media is one of the biggest platforms available for reaching out to young people. Therefore, a gif would be used that will automatically play as people scroll over the image on Facebook or Twitter. On first glance it would look just like a still image, however it would start to zoom out revealing people pointing and laughing at the girl for having food stuck in her teeth and round her mouth. To really challenge peoples perceptions of ignorance and whether or not it is a good situation to be in. The Gif would be very short to make it more shareable. The two images below show the original shot and then the zoomed out version that would appear as people scroll over/click on it.
TV Concept
The TV advert will be comprised of different scenarios that lead to a man passing his germs onto another male. The situations include: blowing his nose without a tissue, picking his nose and using the toilet without washing his hands. The main character then goes to a business meeting and shakes the hand of the clientele, who then bites his nails. Gross!
The idea is meant to show how his ignorance in this instance is not doing him any favours, had he been aware of the situation then he could have washed his hands or not proceeded to bite his nails.
The moral of the story: Ignorance isn’t always a good thing! Especially when it comes to politics.
The website
Instead of creating a site specifically for this campaign, I decided to incorporate a link within the YouGov website. Each piece of advertising has a call to action directing people to the web page. The aim of the website is to create a space which people who regard themselves as ‘politically ignorant’ can use. There are three links within this website: a simple guide, a forum and a register to vote page. Firstly, the simple guide would be written in a similar style to the ‘For Dummies’ books that are currently in the market today. The aim is to provide a service, whereby people are able to use the website to find out more information on politics. The page will be comprised in a simple layout with bullet points that makes understanding politics extremely easy so that people can no longer use the excuse of ‘I don’t understand politics’ as a reason not to vote. The forum will allow people to discuss with other ‘politically ignorant’ people to try and spark a conversation about current political arguments within the news. Any queries raised within the forum will be monitored and if a topic is brought up that is not covered within the ‘simple guide’ then the answer to their query will be added to the guide. The register to vote link is there so that people can apply to vote once they have gained a better understanding of politics through the other elements within the website.
