Background
Creative Media is an almost entirely student-run full-service digital creative agency that operates under the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUCD). ASUCD Elections Committee hired Creative Media to create a Marketing Campaign to increase student voter turnout in the Winter 2016 ASUCD Elections, a biannual student government election.
Marketing Co-Director
lead brainstorming session
created marketing timeline
delegating tasks
presented goals and marketing plan to client and ASUCD Senate
implemented efforts in person and online
Marketing Co-Director
Graphics Lead
Graphic Designer
Social Media Manager
Problem
Only 9% of all undergraduate students voted in the previous election. Although traditional marketing tactics (flyers and posters) were employed, they proved to be ineffective at pushing students to vote.
Process
We began brainstorming and planning about three weeks before launching the campaign. We presented the following ideas and campaign plan to both the Elections Committee Chair and to ASUCD Senate.
Results of our brainstorming session
Concept and Visual Identity
Although the elected student government of ASUCD makes decisions that affect all undergraduates and is funded by student fees, only 9% of all 3,000+ undergraduate students voted. During our brainstorming session, we realized this number was so powerful that we decided to revolve the entire campaign around it: “Don’t Let 9% of Students Speak for You.
Lillian leading an associative word exercise
Lillian, our Graphics Lead, facilitated several associative word exercises that led us to create a visual identity inspired by old superhero comic books.
Campaign style guide
Marketing Campaign
Week 1: Passive Marketing
Facebook Event
We utilized a Facebook Event as our main platform of communicating with undergraduate students, and kept it active with updates and voting information throughout the duration of the campaign.
Official ASUCD social media channels reflected the branding of the campaign
Candidate Workshop
Because candidates play a large role in elections marketing by reaching out to their peer groups, we hosted a "How to Market Yourself" workshop with examples of past candidate marketing efforts and publicity resources that are offered to them.
Week 2: Publicize Voting Period
Traditional Media
During all three weeks, we utilized posters in lecture halls and flyers while tabling (see Social Media Incentives below), both of which communicated the voting period dates.
Flyer example
Donut
Social Media Incentives
Because the Facebook Event was our main communication outlet, we actively marketed to students with the goal of "attending" our Facebook Event. Throughout the week, we passed out incentives including stickers, t-shirts, planners, and snacks in exchange for clicking "Attend" on our Facebook Event.
Table
Table
Social Media Contest Pt. I
Because candidates usually rely on their own social networks to publicize their campaign, we held a "Candidate Photo Contest" for non-candidates to participate in. With the goal of increasing student discourse about the election on social media , this two-week long contest awarded students for posting a photo of their preferred candidates on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with the hashtag, #ASUCDelections. Paricipants were judged in three categories: Best Candid, Funniest, and Essence of Davis.
Contest rules
Donut
Week 3: Voting Week - Get Students to Vote
Online Presence
Our social media postings were the most frequent across platforms this week, and especially in the Facebook Event. We engaged with student voters by posting photo contest winners and special Coffee House bags (see below), and text posts reminding students to vote. On our Facebook Event, there were 38 discussion posts from both our team and students, and 937 RSVP'd students.
We also received permission to place a screensaver on all on-campus media labs computers for the duration of the week.
Coffee House Partnership
To increase visibility, we partnered with the ASUCD Coffee House, a central campus hub that employs 250+ undergraduates and serves over 7,000 customers daily. We placed branded stickers on 1,000 pastry bags that the Coffee House distributed to customers for the first 2 days of the voting period. We also hung a vinyl banner above the main cash registers and gave Coffee House employees branded "Vote Today" buttons to wear during the week of voting.
Coffee House pastry bag
Social Media Manager Nathalie wearing a "Vote Today" pin and holding a branded pastry bag
Social Media Contest Pt. II
We received 15 submissions to the photo contest via Facebook and Instagram. On the last day of the voting period, we announced the three "best" photos (as voted by Creative Media staff) for each category, and posted the winning photos on the Facebook Event and official ASUCD pages. The winners and runner-ups received gift packages with ASUCD Elections branded t-shirts, stickers, and Coffee House gift cards.
Coffee House pastry bag
Coffee House pastry bag
Conclusion
We received much positive feedback from students and faculty within and outside of ASUCD, and we continue to partner with ASUCD Elections Committee today.
