Creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi is not pulling any punches with its new ‘Voting Is Hot AF’ campaign, an attention-grabbing effort to get young people to show up at their polling station on 4 July.
The arousing campaign, which is for the non-partisan group Just Vote, is led by Ecotricity founder and green entrepreneur Dale Vince and taps into a range of key voter insights from PR and communications agency Borkowski.
Starting with the notion that voting makes you hotter (with 40% of 18-24 year olds finding regular voters more attractive according to a Just Vote survey), the playful OOH taps into the notion of ‘X’ as a visual shorthand to symbolise attraction and the X-rated notion of sex appeal.
Headlines include “Get Polled”, “Giving AF is hot AF”, “Talk turnout to me” and “18+ for a reason”.
With youth turnout at a historic low, the Just Vote campaign aims to encourage young people aged 18-24 to register, remember their ID and turn out on the day.
Summarising the campaign, founder Mark Borkowski said: “Just Vote unites the passion and innovation of long time friend and partner Dale Vince, with the creative genius of Saatchi & Saatchi, who are always leading the zeitgeist of behavioural change.”
“To generate cut through amongst the noise of all that is vying for the hearts, minds and eyeballs of our young people, is not an easy task, but one that it has never been more important to pursue.”
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Further findings from Just Vote’s research include that more than half of voters surveyed (52%) felt that non-voters were more likely to be rude to a waiter, while 21% felt that non-voters were likely to spend a first date talking about themselves.
A further 18% felt that non-voters would be more likely to ghost their dates, while 17% felt that voters were more likely to take care of the bill on a date.
“Finding the right message, at the right moment to influence real behaviour change is when advertising is at its most powerful,” said Saatchi & Saatchi chief creative officer Franki Goodwin.
“It’s been extremely interesting mining dating and internet culture to find a real world upside to young people engaging in politics – a place that can often feel like the least attractive, least youthful place on earth and that’s not good for anyone,” she continued.
Ecotricity CEO Dale Vince added that Saatchi & Saatchi has had a “powerful influence” on British political history.
He also highlighted that the campaign underlines the urgency of “ensuring that young people and first time voters are given a voice on 4 July”.
