Meddle in the New Zealand Election

Think differently about your creative execution in your next campaign.

Close to one million New Zealanders live overseas. But did you know only one in 10 voted in the 2017 New Zealand election. That left a serious amount of Kiwis not having a say. So to influence overseas non-voters to become voters in their next election, nonpartisan initiative "Every Kiwi Vote Counts" turned to the experts in online election influencing - the Russians. Spokesperson Viktor targeted overseas Kiwis on social, through PR and outdoor, explaining how easy it was to “meddle in the New Zealand election.” And like any good Russian meddler, he got results - with overseas votes rising by 42%

The inertia of overseas non-voters was so great that they really needed something provocative to wake them up. Enter Viktor.

Like any good meddler, the Russian, Viktor, took to Facebook and other social platforms to influence. He reached Kiwis through social groups, mobile billboards in Kiwi-populated parts of foreign cities like London, as well as getting his exploits written up in The Guardian UK, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC Australia, even SBS Russian.

This resulted in a record number of overseas New Zealanders voting in their next election.

The response to the campaign has been amazing. To have a 24% jump in overseas enrolments, a 50% jump in online vote uploads and comments in social saying that it was the first time someone had voted in over 20 years and others voted because of Viktor, was phenomenal. In these times with more and more Kiwis returning to their homeland, having your say is as important as ever, and to see such a response was a great result for New Zealand democracy

Creativity is your own limitation. Let's start the new year creatively because we all need to stop COVID-19 having the main focus in our lives.