Publicator/ Brand and corporate communication portfolio - Communication campaign for “Oameni noi in politica”

Badge of the Citizen's initiative Oameni noi in politica (New People in Politics)

Communication campaign for “Oameni noi in politica”

“Oameni noi in politica” (New People in Politics) is a citizen initiative aiming to reform electoral laws so it simplifies the access of competent citizens in politics, initiated by the civic movement Initiativa Romania (Romania Initiative) along with 26 other civic organizations and 4 political parties. In order to reach the Parliament vote, the initiative needed to gather at least 100,000 signatures from at least 11 counties of Romania and Bucharest. We supported the initiative with the development of the communication strategy and the related materials, focusing on social media.

More client info and work: Initiativa Romania

Skills: communication strategy, art direction, copywriting, photo editing, DTP, project management

See client's site

General communication topics

#OameniNoi turned out to be the largest civic electoral reform project in Romania. Back in the autumn of 2018, the initiators identified 7 amendmends to the electoral laws that would allow people to access easier the political stage, to vote easier and to be represented in accordance with the new context (i.e. related to the Romanian diaspora). After 30 years from the regime change that took place in December 1989, the local political class is still dominated by rigid, non-transparent, self-centered political structures. #OameniNoi promoted the idea that a new perspective on politics is highly needed, and that young people with fresh ideas should step up and actively get involved into politics. The goal of the initiative was to gather the necessary number of signatures to be taken into consideration by the parliament, to raise awareness regarding the inadequacies on the current electoral laws, to ask people for donations to support this project or to get involved as volunteers.

key visual for Oameni noi in politica (New People in Politics): Politics is not a closed circle

Communication followed three major topics:

Promoting the central message of the campaign (the need to reform the electoral legislation and the package of proposed changes)
Explaining each of the 7 amendments to the laws
Creating a meaningful and dynamic conversation to keep people engaged and interested

Communication strategy

The communication of these three themes over a long period of time (the campaign lasted over 5 months), mostly on just one channel (FB), meant that we had to keep people's attention, but without bombarding them with similar materials. As such, we created several series of messages with different creative approaches.

Presentation of the 7 amendmends

The proposed amendments to the electoral law aimed to give easier access of the competent citizens to politics and to improve the political offer: system for monitoring the attendance at the vote and the illegal vote, preferential vote on party lists (open lists), election of mayors in two rounds, reduction of the number of signatures required for registration in elections, etc. We communicated them by developing two creative routes: using simple and easy to understand illustrations (made with the help of the illustrator Iulia Givan), and using the power of numbers.

Web banner illustrated with the initiative's proposed amendment to the electoral law: fair elections

Web banner illustrated with the initiative's proposed amendment to the electoral law: two rounds' elections

Web banner illustrated with the initiative's proposed amendment to the electoral law: against illegal voting

Web banner illustrated with the initiative's proposed amendment to the electoral law: open candidates' list

Web banner illustrated with the initiative's proposed amendment to the electoral law: reducing the number of signatures for the registration of the cnadidates

Inspired reactions

Online communication was spiced up with reactive messages at events that took place daily and were relevant to the campaign.

Facebook banner 1 illustrating a quick reaction to undergoing events in politics

Facebook banner 2 illustrating a quick reaction to undergoing events in politics

Facebook banner 3 illustrating a quick reaction to undergoing events in politics

Historical snapshots

Any opportunity (including Halloween!) was taken in order to promote the campaign's messages and values – especially non-conventional visuals proved highly effective on social media, becoming viral.

Facebook banner halloween related illustration as a reaction to current political events

Facebook banner with historical figures as a reaction to udergoing political events

Explanatory tools

For people who were not part of the "civic bubble" active on social media platforms, and in order to penetrate different society layers, we also produced standard information tools. Various printed materials were distributed in larger cities.

Printed flyer with explanations about the civic initiative

Printed flyer with the propositions of the civic initiative Oameni noi in politica

Keeping track of data

There was also a need for regular communication of updated situations regarding the number of signatures collected. So we created several types of visuals for that, emphasizing the urgency of the need to collect signatures, towards the end of the campaign, especially from the counties that had the potential to reach the target.