#VOTESMART

Title#VOTESMART
BrandSMART COMMUNICATIONS
Product / ServiceTELECOMMUNICATION
CategoryB05. Public Service, Charity & Fund Raising
EntrantDDB PHILIPPINES Taguig City, THE PHILIPPINES
Entrant Company DDB PHILIPPINES Taguig City, THE PHILIPPINES
Advertising Agency DDB PHILIPPINES Taguig City, THE PHILIPPINES
Media Agency RAPPLER Pasig City, THE PHILIPPINES

Credits

Name Company Position
Diane Isabel Chua Tribal Worldwide-Ddb Managing Partner
Rica Garcia Tribal Worldwide-Ddb New Business Director
Nicole Soltes Tribal Worldwide-Ddb Art Director
Dan Pambid Tribal Worldwide-Ddb Creative Director
Marnie Emralino Ddb Phils. Account Supervisor
Diane Welsh-Capile Ddb Phils. Group Account Director
Er Rafael Ddb Phils. Client Services Director
Dennis Santos Ddb Phils. Art Director
Camilo Quevedo Ddb Phils. Art Director
Roni Gutierrez Ddb Phils. Associate Creative Director
Roberto Vito Ddb Phils. Creative Director
Joey Ong Ddb Phils. Executive Creative Director

Results and Effectiveness

Total #votesmart impressions for the entire campaign period was 231,714,611. Online videos generated 35,000 views. Banner ads registered 3,098,496 impressions. On its first day, page views for the news portal hit 2 million. In May (election month), page views jumped to 19 million. Best of all, majority of the elected were candidates supportive of the current president’s anti-corruption platform, entitled “Straight Path”. 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.

Creative Execution

Smart Telecom, the Philippines’ biggest telecommunications company, developed #votesmart, an advocacy campaign that made it easy for voters to know more about the candidates beyond what they see on TV commercials, on posters, flyers and billboards, or hear on the radio. How? Through social media. Online news and social media personalities were tapped to reach out to their followers, numbering in the millions and hundred-thousands, and challenged them to #votesmart. Conversations led them to a centralized news portal that served as a one-stop shop of all the information voters needed to know about all of the candidates. Comprehensive info - from education and employment history to achievements in and out of politics, from attendance to actual bills passed (for re-electorates), from their stand on specific issues to proposed bills – were all available. Voters could even use the hashtag to ask the candidates questions and join the discussions.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

In 2012, the Philippines was ranked the most corrupt country in Asia by international watchdog, Political and Economic Risk Consultancy. This is because for decades, corrupt officials (and their dynasties) are elected term after term. Their strategy? Bombard traditional media. With the money they plunder, they can afford to spend hundreds of millions on posters, streamers, radio jingles, and TV airtime. Traditional media rules, but doesn’t really say anything. Voters don’t really get to know the candidates beyond their ads. For the 2013 Senatorial Elections, Smart Telecom, the country’s biggest telecommunications network, wanted to change the game. By using smartphones and the Internet as an alternative media channel, it challenged the dominance of traditional media in delivering information to the voter. This was a chance for everyone to make a truly educated choice, a chance to see the candidates beyond their ads, a chance to #votesmart.