Home » SA’s Electoral Commission Launches “Live local. Vote local” Ahead Of Council Elections

26 September, 2022

SA’s Electoral Commission Launches “Live local. Vote local” Ahead Of Council Elections

Ahead of their third election of 2022, the Electoral Commission of South Australia has introduced its new brand campaign for the 2022 Council Elections, “Live local. Vote local.” The ad is the work of indie agency The United Republic.

The new campaign, developed by the creative strategist James Trebilcock, the Commission’s Director of Marketing and Advertising, and Copywriter Steve Dodds, showcases the role that local governments play in the lives of all South Australians.

Trebilcock said: “With three elections held in 2022 and the global trend of disengagement with government and elections, we had some significant challenges in developing a campaign that engaged South Australians and motivated them to vote.

“Our philosophy is to base our communications strategy on research and fact and uncover key insights to engage our audiences. All of our work starts with qualitative and quantitative research to understand our audiences and the existing barriers and motivators. We then use this to develop our communication, channel and creative strategies.

“The new campaign addresses the three key barriers identified: I don’t really care, I don’t know who to vote for, and I am not engaged with the process, and showcases the vital role that local governments play in your local community.

“Local councils are all about local people solving local problems, not just the obvious things like roads and rubbish, but things that make communities great like festivals and farmers markets, parks and pools, aged care and child care.

“To add to the complexity, local government elections in SA are conducted via post, so there is no official ballot day. While this lowers any barrier to participation, we need to ensure that all the 1.3 million eligible SA voters are aware that they will be receiving ballot packs in the mail and that they must return them before the end of the election period; So the campaign, in addition to creating an emotional connection with councils, also has a strong call to action – complete your ballot papers and post them back ASAP.

“2022 has been a significant year for elections in South Australians: The Commission delivered the nation’s first covid-safe election, and for some – a by-election, and our federal counterparts delivered a federal election.

“We wanted to create a campaign that was engaging and had strong cut-through to a voting fatigued electorate, as well as standing out from usual election awareness advertising. We’ve used shadow puppets, filmed in camera, storytelling and rhyme to capture the imagination of voters and encourage all South Australians to vote.”

The ‘Live local. Vote local.’ campaign will run across TV, Press, OOH, Social, Digital, PR and VOD applications. The campaign includes 30 and 15-second TVCs that are brought to life with shadow puppets and storytelling, digital OOH executions, and 6 and 15-second social and video-on-demand assets.

In addition, ECSA’s local government campaign includes a social media competition for youth groups asking them to deliver a social video highlighting the role that their local council plays in their community and why it’s important for young people to vote for a chance to win a $1500 gift voucher for their group, as well as video profiles of new migrants and business owners demonstrating the effect of local government on South Australian’s businesses and individuals.

The Live Local. Vote Local campaign debuts on 26 September 2023, three weeks before the start of voting.

Credits

Client: Electoral Commission of South Australia

Director of Marketing and Advertising: James Trebilcock

Research agency: Haymkr Stephen Spencer

Creative team: The United Republic, James Trebilcock, Steve Dodds

Production company: Foremore Advertising / Merlin

Client Service Director: Jeremy Foreman (Foremore)

Director: Richard Layton (Merlin)

Puppeteer: Matt Plumber – Big Idea Giants.

Editor/DOP: Rob Henscke (Merlin)

Media: Hannah Fisher CARAT

Social and web: ECSA In-house

Editorial/ public relations: Catherine Humphreys-Scott / Lisa Reichstein, CALLIE

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SA's Electoral Commission The United Republic