Why is this work relevant for PR?

Magparehistroka.com (RegisterToVote) is a website that applied behavioral science to help people plan HOW to vote. The website’s success obviously hinged on site visitors, so we made it intriguing enough to be picked up by every major publication in the Philippines. We called on the ghosts of national heroes to teach and guilt-trip visitors into voter registration. The results? Heroic. With only a $105,000 budget, the website garnered $400,000 in PR value.

Background

The 2022 Philippine presidential elections is shaping up to be one of the most critical in the country's history. But the current voter registration process is painfully analog, time-consuming and inefficient. All during a Covid lockdown. Magparehistroka.com (Registertovote.com) was designed to overcome the critical barriers to registering, using the ghosts of our national heroes to remind users that registering to vote is relatively easy, versus what our dead heroes had to go through

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The 2022 Philippine presidential elections is shaping up to be one of the most critical in the country's history. Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) wanted to encourage as many as people as possible – especially youths – to register to vote. Using behavioral science learnings, we created magparehistroka.com, a website designed to overcome the critical barriers of the country’s time-consuming and inefficient system of analog voter registration. With its edgy and quirky visual illustrations, the website struck a chord among the youth that the COMELEC is courting – achieving a 300% increase in new voter registrations vs 2016 elections, X number of unique visitors, and garnering USD400,000 in PR value.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

Filipinos wanted to vote. The barrier wasn’t apathy. It’s a painfully analog government process. Nickerson and Rogers (2008) found that helping people PLAN how to vote increased higher voter turnout. We used this insight in creating magparehistroka.com (registertovote.com). We crafted a critical path based on real-life analog barriers people faced. We then created a simplified process online on how to PLAN their registration – searching their electorate office, which requirements to bring, Covid-19 protocols to expect, and note important dates. The experience naturally nudged users from one task to the next, priming them to complete the act of registration in their heads.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

After creating an easy, attractive, and timely interface, we made the experience fun by transforming voter registration into something lighter and digestible. We guilt-tripped users into completing the journey by calling on the ghosts of Philippine national heroes – the martyrs who sacrificed everything for Filipinos. The site employed an animated comics style, where our dead heroes alternately guided and reminded users that registering to vote is relatively easy, compared to being a hero. Employing a mix of gentle barbs, puns and modern Filipino and English speak, the heroes humorously nudged our users to plan for their voter registration.

List the results (30% of vote)

• Tier 1: - $400,000 PR value with only a budget of $105,000. - 82,693,040 media impressions and 20,039,339 social media impressions - Major publications and media outlets spanning digital and traditional (radio, TV) picked up the website. - Politicians, celebrities, and the general public promoted the website on their feeds. • Tier 2: • 3.4 MILLION UNIQUE VISITS • 1.2 MILLION USED OUR REGISTRATION SITE MAP • 797,000 ACCESSED REGISTRATION FORMS • 64% CONVERSION RATE • Tier 3: - Commission on Elections (COMELEC) garnered 5.4 million new voter registrants, blowing past its KPI targets. - 300% increase in new voter registrations versus the 2016 elections.