Title	NEVER FORGET. TO VOTE.
Brand	THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC YOUTH ORGANISATION, SSU
Product/Service	FORMATION OF OPINION
Category	A03. PUBLIC AFFAIRS & LOBBYING
PR Agency	EDELMAN DEPORTIVO Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production Company	SNASK Stockholm, SWEDEN
Entrant Company	EDELMAN DEPORTIVO Stockholm, SWEDEN

Name	Company	Position
Agency	Edelman Deportivo	Team
Productioncompany	Snask	Team
Client	The Social Democratic Youth Organisation/SSU	Team

The Campaign

Challenge Young people are politically engaged in Sweden, but in topics rather than parties. It is therefor difficult to get young people to sign up to the youth organisations or to get them engaged in political campaigns from the larger parties. Objectives We wanted to create engagement for a SSU core value to: Build the knowledge of SSU amongst young people. Make young people consider voting on the Social Democratic party, or even getting them politically involved. Strategy Instead of showing a full menu of what the Social Democratic party offers, we chose to highlight one core value. Due to the growing far right wing movement, we chose anti-fascism. Execution Never Forget. To Vote. We recruited Rainer Höss, the grandson of Auschwitz-commendant Rudolf Höss to front our PR-campaign. The campaign included a campaign site, a film with Rainer Höss, a thunder clap initiative and ambassadeurs (Instagram/Facebook). PR The campaign was PR at it’s core, with an unexpected message-carrier, a strong message and the planning and execution of hundreds of media contacts. We had a classic PR-strategy and added new technology, such as Thunderclap, to create a spreadable and highly effective PR-campaign. Results The campaign got an earned media reach of 250 million people in media all over Europe. We reached 7 881 424 people with our digital protest march on Thunderclap. The Social Democrats won the school elections with the highest margin in 12 years and SSU grew their member-base with ten percent during the campaign period.

The Brief

We wanted to create engagement for a SSU core value to: Build the knowledge of SSU amongst young people. Make young people consider voting on the Social Democratic party, or even getting them politically involved. It was also important to get a big impact in large media, in order to get the existing members to feel pride. Because the members are the ones recruiting new ones, and to do that, you have to believe in your party. You have to feel that it is relevant to you, and that it will be to your friends.

Results

The campaign got a massive earned media reach of 250 million people and it was highlighted by, for example, Daily Mail, Al Jazeera, Le Figaro, El Mundo, Der Spiegel and Haaretz. We reached 7 881 424 people with our digital protest march on Thunderclap alone. The Social Democrats won the school elections (when high school-students tell how they woud vote if allowed) with the highest margin in 12 years and SSU grew their member-base with ten percent during the campaign period. We proved that young people are interested in political parties. You just have to earn their attention.

Execution

We came up with the PR-campaign “Never Forget. To Vote”. We recruited Rainer Höss, the grandson of Auschwitz-commendant Rudolf Höss to front our campaign. At the center we had a shareble campaign site, http://www.neverforgettovote.com/en/, hosting different campaign elements: A movie where Rainer Höss, the grandchild of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, urges us to look at our past, no matter how much it might hurt. And to never forget. To vote. A digital protest march through Thunderclap - supported by the actor Stephen Fry - to take place simultaneously all over Europe. A hundred ambassadors - musicians, actors, activists and Holocaust survivors - supported the campaign by posting photos to social media. We also took the fight to the schools and the streets, with hundreds of volunteers, who could download material and posters from our campaign site.

The Situation

Young people are politically engaged in Sweden, but in topics rather than parties. It is therefor difficult to get young people to sign up to the youth organisations or to get them engaged in political campaigns from the larger parties. All over Europe we see growing far right wing movements. In Sweden organized Nazis repeatedly attack demonstrations, and mark common neighborhood walls with swastikas. In Europe, citizens are choosing National Socialist parties as their representatives.

The Strategy

Instead of showing a full menu of what the Social Democratic party offers, we and our client chose to highlight one core value. Due to the growing far right wing movement, we chose anti-fascism. SSU had been a strong force against nazi movements for many decades. And when taking on the growing far right wing movement, we would at the same time get a context to discuss equal rights, education and unemployment: Some of SSU:s most important subjects. Some young people all over Europe participated in nazi parties, but for each one there was hundreds of young people demonstrated against them.