The Brief

In 2012, the Philippines was ranked the most corrupt country in Asia by international watchdog, Political and Economic Risk Consultancy. For decades, corrupt government officials (and their dynasties) are re-elected term after term. Why? Because they are the only ones who have plundered enough money to spend hundreds of millions on election propaganda such as posters, banners, flyers, celebrity endorsers, jingles, and TV airtime. The 2013 senatorial elections gave Filipinos a chance to change this. To change a culture of corruption, the challenge was to reach every Filipino voter, talk to them, and change the way they elected an official.

Creative Execution

The campaign #votesmart works on a simple equation: Technology + Social Media = Direct Information = Smart Vote. Smart Telecom changed the way information was delivered – from the traditional TV, radio, print and outdoor to social media straight to the voter’s computer, tablet, or smartphone. Because a lot of the content was crowdsourced, information turned into conversation, each one punctuated with #votesmart. From there, Filipino voters uses the hashtag to continue the conversation, start a discussion with their other friends, or ask candidates questions about their stand on certain issues.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

SMART Telecom, the country’s largest telecommunications provider, partnered with Rappler, an impartial social news network, to raise voter awareness and change the way Filipinos vote. It’s time to #votesmart. Popular social media celebrities and news personalities were tapped to reach out to their followers numbering in the millions and hundred-thousands, and challenged their followers to #votesmart. Conversations would lead to a centralized news and information portal that provided voters with vital candidate info – education and employment history, achievements in and out of politics, attendance and actual bills passed (for re-electorates), stand on specific issues and proposed bills.

Results

Total #votesmart impressions for the entire campaign period was 231,714,611. Online videos generated 35,000 views. The banner ad garnered a total of 3,098,496 impressions. Page views for the news portal on day 1 (April) was approximately 2 million, which jumped to 19 million in May (election month). Best of all, majority of those elected were candidates supportive of the current president’s anti-corruption platform, entitled “Straight Path”. As a result, the country’s chief executive finally has control of both houses of Congress. More results are expected. Especially since the main event, the presidential elections, are just 3 years away.