The local body elections are coming up and Wave Creative Communications Agency has riled the younger generation to vote in the best way it knows how; inspiring them to outvote the baby boomers.
‘Brews to Outvote Boomers’ launched yesterday with the sole mission of getting younger people to take part in the local body elections which are fast approaching. The two beverages are in collaboration with the Youth Advisory Group and Mount Brewing Co in Tauranga, where under 55’s now outnumber over 55’s, meaning they can use their voice to be heard against tired old views.
The cans are graced with real-life quotes sourced from some of our most shameful internet alleyways and the always pleasant ‘letters to the editor’.
‘Your generation can’t take a joke’, ‘Climate change is just scaremongering’, ‘You could afford to buy a house if you stopped buying all those fancy coffees’ and ‘We had a harder time than all those jumped-up spoilt brats’.
The message crafted by Wave is a simple one, younger generations are starting to outnumber the older ones, so our voices will be heard if we make the effort to vote.
“While some people may think Tauranga lacks diversity or is a ‘retirement village’ we know that’s not true. There is a large number of young people to reach to encourage them to have a say in how the city is run,” says Wave Creative Communications Agency creative director Craig Parker (29).
“The number one problem is that young people don’t usually talk about voting. We needed to break into conversation in a way that they would actually listen – not just through a traditional advertising campaign. We needed to come up with a campaign that would push the boundaries and get youth talking about voting and keen to have a say. We decided the best way to start a conversation about politics was to get right to where social circles are already talking – over a few drinks.”
The Wave team hosted workshop sessions with members of the Youth Advisory Group to develop a campaign that aimed to get disengaged youth more interested in the election voting system which is seen by many as ‘archaic, complicated and old-school’.
“The Youth Advisory Group told us most young people have never even posted a letter, let alone a voting paper! We had to think of another way to make voting cool and accessible,” adds Parker.
The cans are a great mechanism to get people talking about voting.
To help young people understand the voting process Wave also designed and built the microsite www.outvoteboomers.co.nz. The special brews, one alcoholic one not, are available only in Tauranga until stocks last, while Wave is throwing a special event/voting night on 4 October at Our Place Tauranga. The event will give those who have not enrolled to vote or received voting papers in the mail the chance to cast a special vote between 5pm-8pm.
