Two ticks? Too Easy!

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Two ticks? Too Easy!

• Report on the Electoral Commissions
  information programme for Election 08

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Executive summary

• Our information programme for Election 08
• Aimed to fill MMP knowledge gaps while pushing
  ease, relevance, action
• Had a budget of 1.05m
• Reached all aged 18 with a core three week
  multi-media campaign
• Included election week and election day
  environmental initiatives to increase election
  visibility
• Had young voters as a major focus with tailored
  campaigns using a range of creative approaches,
  social networking websites, youth media channels,
  and community projects
• Also put extra effort into reaching migrants,
  news media, under 18s, and the disabled
• Built on our ongoing education work focused on
  the school and tertiary sectors, the media, and
  other influencers.

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Executive summary (continued)

• The campaign, as is all our education and
  information work, was based on political science
  and behavioural change theory and best practice.
• It was informed by turnout and research data
• Most understand MMP
• Turnout is declining
• Political efficacy (self-perception of interest,
  value and ease of politics/voting) is a predictor
  of voting, with perceptions of ease potentially
  fruitful to address
• Young non-voters fit into five general profiles
  based on their electoral knowledge and motivation
  but generally all share the sentiments of Im in
  the dark and Its not on my wavelength.

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Election 08 information programme overview

• Report on the Electoral Commissions
  information programme for Election 08

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The election campaign aimed to fill MMP gaps
while pushing ease, relevance, action

• Its easy! the single-minded proposition
  underpinning all communications fronted by
• Orange Elections Guy the single approachable
  and versatile spokesperson for all three
  electoral agencies appearing in an
• Integrated marketing communications campaign
  using multi-media advertising, direct marketing,
  public relations, field work, and
  point-of-salecommunications and activities.

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It pushed messages to help voters cast an
effective vote

• MMP is easy
• The party vote is most important in determining
  the share of seats each party gets
• A partys share of seats is proportional to its
  share of party votes
• Two parts to threshold awareness of 5
  threshold is much higher than of electorate
  threshold
• When an electorate contest might change a partys
  fortune, especially related to threshold and
  overhang.
• Where the voter knows how to best use their
  votes to help achieve the electoral outcome they
  prefer.

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It included messages to spur participation

• Choosing and voting is easy
• Politics is relevant and accessible
• Every vote counts in our sensitive system
• Do it with mates or family
• The elections everywhere, so join in!

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The core advertising campaign reached all aged
18

• Three week campaign leading to election day
• Bifurcated media buy focused on spring (18 to
  29-year-olds) and autumn (50 years) to address
  audiences with greatest needs as established by
  MMP research and participation levels (with check
  kept for satisfactory performance for 30 to
  49-year-olds)
• Same core campaign material was used as in 2005
  to maximise return on 2005 development costs and
  placement mileage from 2008 budget.

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Its budget was split by audience and medium to
meet priorities and best practice

• 1.05m info campaign funding in 07/08
  (single-year, one-off funding in Budget 2008)
• split by key audience (these overlap) youth
  44, Maori 16, ethnic 17 (this was double
  weight for youth, Maori/ethnic approximate to
  population )

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Core campaign elements

• Report on the Electoral Commissions
  information programme for Election 08

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Press the main points in print
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Print - performance overview

• Delivered two votes and proportionality message,
  while alerting all, including other language
  speakers to more information on website.
• A4 size approx, full colour ads, appearing twice
  in Sunday, daily, and community newspapers, plus
  retiree magazines/supplements
• NZ Herald election supplement sponsorship offered
  extra exposure, particularly to migrant and
  tertiary student markets (detailed later)

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Television and radio delivery

• Could be described as a medium to heavy weight
  campaign considering spend and duration
• TV ads comprised 2 x 15 second top tail ads
  delivering two votes and party vote
  proportionality messages, sequenced within same
  or adjacent breaks in same programme
• TV used free to air and pay channels with 70 of
  spend in peak viewing
• Radio ads comprised 2 x 30 second top tail
  radio ads per TV campaign
• Placement was on six radio networks with regional
  boosts for key demographics where required.

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Television advertisements

• you have two votes
• parties get a share of seats proportional to
  their share of the party vote

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Television performance
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Radio performance
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www.elections.org.nz
Online

• Six week campaign leading up to election day
• Key news media and email portals used to push MMP
  quiz ivotenz youth site
• Multiple sizes and formats display, word
  links...
• Mixed buying strategy both impression volume
  and click thru buys
• Google adwords advertised and linked to
  contextually relevant details from the Elections
  NZ website in news, blog, and lifestyle websites.

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Online performance overview
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MMP direct to voters

• 2.9m EasyVotepack inserts
• Multi-lingual content

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Putting electioninto environment

• Election day aerial banners over Auckland (7hrs),
  Wellington (4hrs), and Canterbury (3hrs)
  regionsto remind and affirm voters

• Movie pages in morning papers if youre looking
  for a movie you might not have the election
  top-of-mind!

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Putting electioninto environment
Sky Tower, Auckland, lit orange for election week
to remind and celebrate, and promoted as such via
PR and radio comp.
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Putting electioninto environment

• Messages address key issues of choosing, doing
  and peer support
• Mens 3 wks, 39 cinemas,200,000 patrons
• Womens 2 wks, 30 cinemas,130,000 patrons
• Received bonus newspaper coverage

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Additional elements for priority audiences

• Report on the Electoral Commissions
  information programme for Election 08

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Some audiences received extra attention

• Younger voters because first time voters need
  extra encouragement and information
• Migrants because many are unfamiliar with our
  electoral system and English is not their first
  language
• News media because they are a primary source of
  election information for many voters.

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Most effort was put into informing and
encouraging 18-29 year olds

• Media used
• TV and radio made by youth stations for their
  markets
• Online (including social media) putting tailored
  information in their spaces
• Supporting youth action to build peer
  participation
• Bus stops, posters, and bathroom media to
  challenge complacency
• On campus distribution of info in largest markets
• Outbound txting to drive action on election day
• Aerial, newspaper, and an orange Sky Tower to
  build environment.

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TV and radio ads made by youth stations to help
ensure effectiveness

• Radio 6 week role model testimonial and
  announcer-read messages campaign on student
  radio
• Television Alt TV, C4 (both 3 wks) MTV (6wks)
• Material produced by stations to briefs covering
  core content and needs being addressed

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Social media(enrolment lead)
Three Bebo profiles- 90k profile views- 2.4k
friends- 3k skin adoptions- 1k comments- 21k
video views
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Election essentials provided to youth at
www.ivotenz.org.nz
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The Great New Zealand Vote Party

• Initiative of youth wings of six political
  parties
• Aimed to encourage social events on the day to
  celebrate the election and encourage
  participation
• Three-week campaign used online, posters, student
  radio, Alt TV, and networks to promote, including
  incentive of high profile DJ for one party drawn
  by lot
• Electoral Commission among its sponsors.

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Supportingyouth action
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In their faces

• Two week campaign
• 14 centres
• 120 adshels (bus stops)
• 715 poster positions

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Just in timeone-stop info

• 10,000 wrappedNZ Herald supplementsgiven free
  to studentsin Auckland Hamilton
• Encouragement and info for choosing and doing

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Election day txt (sms) reminders
200 poster requests Orange Guy here -) UR
vote is UR voice! Today is the day to use it,
so look 4 ORANGE signs vote b4 7pm. Voting
near home with ur EasyVote card is fastest.
Controlled research proved 3676 outbound txt
lifted turnout
22.1k 18-29yosvia ad service Tick tick..
its electn day uv only got til 7pm 2 vote
hv yr say on who runs NZ! Look 4 orng signs
vote near home ASAP! Orng guy -)
15.6k 3676 enrollers Orange Guy here -)
Thanx 4 enrolling to vote. Today is the day,
so look 4 the ORANGE signs and vote b4 7pm.
Voting near home with ur EasyVote card is
fastest!
300 online requests Over 3 time slots Orange
Guy here -) TIME IS RUNNING OUT! Vote by 7pm
or U wont get a say in who runs NZ for 3 years
Look 4 ORANGE signs (near home if poss) do
it now!
Ad service and 3676 outbound txts reachedapprox
5 of all 18 to 29-year-olds
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Welcomingmigrants

• 18 migrant languages
• Chosen by census data incl socio factors
• EasyVote pack
• Ads in languages where media exists in them
• Print ads pointed to web for languages materials
• Audio files for non-readers
• Migrant workers a roadshow focus
• Languages-wrapped NZ Herald to 25k homesin high
  migrant suburbs.

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News mediaprofessionals

• Ongoing media relations and monitoring throughout
• Halos awarded to speedilyacknowledge good work
  during campaign reMMP or participation

• 420 journalism students reached at 10 tertiary
  providers

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Newspapers in Education

• Sponsorship and content input
• College Herald - 253 schools, 252,000 readership
• Newspaper in Education - 877 schools, 758,000
  readership.

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Ongoing education work supported election
information programme

• Report on the Electoral Commissions
  information programme for Election 08

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Ongoing work builds knowledge and action in
stakeholders, toinfluence for participation
longer-term

• Elections NZ roadshow (detail following)
• Promoting and delivering sound citizenship and
  electoral education via schools (detail
  following) and generally
• Journalism sector pre-career and continuing
  education (detail following)
• Rewarding and encouraging others work with
  Wallace Scholarships and Awards
• Media monitoring and relations
• Sharing internationally (including election
  visitors)
• Elections New Zealand website - 1 public sector
  site as evaluated by www.e-govwatch.org.nz audit

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Elections NZ roadshow encouraged community action

• Aimed to cascade info via stakeholders youth,
  disabled, Maori, migrant, community, education,
  media
• Presentations focused on imparting the 1-2-3 of
  enrol-choose-vote, and building understanding of
  barriers to individual participation and ways to
  lower these
• Desired response Its easy, I have the
  information
• May-Jun 08, 8 weeks, 46 staff road days, 36
  workshops, 417 people, 35 other interactions,
  42k incl contractor
• Roadshow resources and full evaluation available
  online

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Elections NZ roadshow encouraged community action
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My "mission" is to have the Chronicle conduct a
"campaign" that will achieve a lift in the voter
turnout Assistant Editor
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Setting up future voters

• Commission previouslyinfluenced the
  curriculumwhich now has greatercitizenship
  focus
• Provided and pushed onlineresources in 2008
• Used posters, ads anded gazette notices
• Teacher professionaldevelopment needs
  significantattention by sector

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Kids Voting

• See www.kidsvoting.org.nz
• Kids use replica ballot paper
• Teachers add context appropriateto time
  allocated and class
• Was first general election Kids Voting
  nationwide
• 24,675 year nine students (over 1/3 of cohort)
  973 classes, 153 schools
• Efficacy and teacher evaluationFOUND SUMMARISE
• Commission was a project partner and hosted
  co-ordinator.

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The theoretical and research foundations that
underpinned this work

• Report on the Electoral Commissions
  information programme for Election 08

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Our education and informationwork is based on

• Political science
• Theories of insufficient reward for voting,
  competitiveness, habit, and generational effects
• Social capital theory
• Efficacy theory.
• Behavioural change models
• Population behavioural change model
• Individual behavioural change model.
• These theoretical foundations are explained on
  following pages.

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Habit, competition, connectedness and belief
encourage participation

• Reward and generational aspects Votings worth
  it, a habit, and best acquired young (Franklin)
• Competitiveness A close race boosts turnout
  (Franklin)
• Social Capital Being connected and modeled to
  also helps (Putnam)
• Efficacy Votings even more likely if you
  believe any of politics is interesting,
  participating can make a difference, and its
  easy (Catt).

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Individual change is in steps with differing
information and motivation needs
That was easy enough and felt good, Ill do it
again
MAINTENANCE
Choosing and voting
ACTION
Ive enrolled, now deciding who to vote for, and
worried by the process
PREPARATION
Thinking about it, it may be relevant
CONTEMPLATION
Havent thought about the election, voting,
enrolling
PRECONTEMPLATION
In many cases, only a small proportion of the
target audience is ready for action-oriented
interventions, and focus needs to be directed to
moving people out of the earlier stages
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Change in a population needs multiple aligned
interventions of different types

• For a population to adopt and maintain a desired
  behaviour all of the following are needed
• appropriate policy (including regulatory)
• appropriate institutional design and priorities
• strong community action
• individual skills
• supportive social environment.
• (References
• Individual Andreasen
• Population Ottawa Charter for Public Health,
  WHO.)

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Turnout and research data also inform our
strategy, messages and means

• Direct input from specific research (summaries
  follow, full research at www.elections.org.nz)
• MMP tracking research
• Post election 05 voter and non-voter
  quantitative
• Non-voter qualitative 2007
• New-voter motivation trials 2005.
• Ongoing input from/to research community
• Aggregating and promoting research reports,
  resources and publications
• Stimulating and using academic teaching and
  research.

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Turnout Kiwis participating less and some
groups well behind

• Turnout trending down.
• Young least likely to enrol and vote, each
  election and by generation, young rural low
  income men least likely of all to vote.
• Maori seats turnout 10-15 less than general
  seats.

2005Turnout 77.1 age eligible (80.9 enrolled)
Informal (spoilt) 0.5 party, 1.1 electorate
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Pre-election Most understood MMP, but there were
some areas of challenge

• MMP knowledge of key points, eg party vote
  importance, is trending up, with long established
  cyclical dips mid-term followed by build-up
  during election campaign
• 67 know party vote importance, highest
  pre-election result since first MMP election
• 18-24yos think voting important, and want to
  know more
• Pacific voters know best, but least confident
• Maori believe in voting (but dont do it)
• 85 confident in election management and vote
  count, a 5 point lift in 1 year.

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Quant 05 Political efficacy is a significant
predictor of voting in NZ
voters minus non-votersabove the line means
more votersbelow the line means more non-voters
Combinations of high/low self-belief that
politics interesting or relevant, voting makes a
difference, choosing and doing is easy
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Prevalence of each combinationInterest, impact,
ease (NZES 2005 sample 2,800)
High efficacy predominant, butpoor belief of
ease is a barrier for many
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Significant efficacy differences by age group
Combinations of high/low self-belief politics is
interesting or relevant, voting makes a
difference, choosing and doing is easy
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Qual 07 Young non-voters fall in
fivesegments
MOTIVATION Higher
Confident and Convinced
TentativeTriers
KNOWLEDGE Lower
KNOWLEDGE Higher
Living for the Weekend
Distrustful and Disillusioned
Politically Absent
Shared sentiments of Im in the dark and Its
not on my wavelength
MOTIVATION Lower
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Expressions of the Segments
CONFIDENT AND CONVINCED I definitely could
change things if I wanted to. Id post polls,
Id kick off a referendum, Id visit my local
MP, Id be more vocal, Id write in
TENTATIVE TRIERS Everyone seems to have, like
made up their mind and I havent
LIVING FOR THE WEEKEND We live for the here and
now rather than whats going to happen 10 years
down the track or 5 years down the track
DISTRUSTFUL AND DISILLUSIONED Its not worth
voting for any of them. There isnt a good
choice. Nothing will change
POLITICALLY ABSENT Its not that I dont care,
its more that Im not interested. Ive got my own
life to think about. Nothing is harming me at
the moment It doesnt make a difference to my
life... I dont think theres anything anyone
could say to make me vote
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• For further information see www.elections.org.nze
  mail info_at_elections.govt.nz or phone 64 4 474
  0670