Ad Council, WestWayne Call Young Voters To Action

Borrowing a technique from the "Truth" national anti-smoking campaign, WestWayne sets a course for action rather a guilt trip in a new voter-registration effort for the Ad Council and the Federal Voting Assistance Program. "Voting is a weird thing because the privilege that comes with it is a nebulous one," said Steve Baer, executive creative director at the Atlanta agency. "What we found out to do from [the American Legacy Foundation's] 'Truth' was not to approach it from the negative, not to say, 'You're bad because you're not voting.' " The pro-bono work, which will be shipped to media outlets in April, asserts that acting on an impulse can be simple and powerful. One spot shows pedestrians eyeing a piece of trash next to a garbage can. As they say things like, "My husband would freak if he saw this," a passerby picks up the garbage and puts it in the can. A voiceover says, "Don't just take a stand. Act," and directs viewers to www.registerandvote2004.org. A second spot takes place in a dormitory bathroom, where students discuss a running faucet but do nothing to turn it off. " 'Truth' was a breakthrough strategy," said Ad Council president Peggy Conlon. "It's hard to get people out to vote. If you want to make a difference ... then you have to do something about it, and that something is vote." The Ad Council's previous voter-registration effort in 2002—also created by WestWayne—used a character who interrupted people at a fast-food window and in a hair salon to say that not voting means ceding control. The current effort, created under a new creative regime at the shop, is meant to put the act of registering to vote in a more positive light, Baer said. The work is targeted at 18-24-year-olds, which is the largest group of non-voters in America, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of the 27 million eligible voters in that age bracket, only 12.1 million are registered. In 2000, 8.6 million of them cast a ballot. Voter participation across all age groups has dropped in the past 25 years, from 50 percent in 1980 to 32 percent in 2002. Still, the FVAP's research shows young adults do care about issues, particularly on the local level. "In many cases, 18-24-year-olds are politically engaged, even if they think they're not," said Scott Wiedmann, FVAP deputy director. "Just by feeling strongly about particular issues and having conversations about them once in a while, that is engaged."The youth vote is shaping up as an important factor in this year's presidential election. MTV's "Choose or Lose" initiative has begun an effort called "20 Million Loud," which looks to mobilize 20 million voters to participate in the election. The channel's voter-registration partner, Rock the Vote, will have a bus tour make stops at both political conventions and in 30 cities across the U.S. later this year to register voters. (Tour sponsors include 7Up, Ben & Jerry's and Motorola.) And like FVAP, Rock the Vote has made online voter registration a main focus of its effort, with an extensive online marketing campaign planned for later this year. "The idea is that by the time August rolls around, if you're a young person, you're going to see a Rock the Vote banner wherever you go on the Web," said Hans Riemer, the effort's Washington director. The organization is also working with TBWA\Chiat\Day in Playa del Rey, Calif., to create TV PSAs. Don't expect the messaging to end in November. In a break from previous years, the Ad Council and the FVAP plan to make the campaign available in non-election years to keep awareness up, Wiedmann said. "It's something you do as an American," he said. "It doesn't have to be top of mind, but it has to be in mind."

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Ad Council, WestWayne Call Young Voters To Action

Aaron Baar

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