2012 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

The video spread immediately via social media and quickly made the headline news. Generating tens of thousands of calls for action, countless media coverage everywhere and +461% visits on Engagement Citoyen's website. Within a few hours, getting out and vote had become the ultimate phase of the Revolutionnary process. In the evening it was aired on all Tunisian and Arabic TV news. The next day it spread worldwide. But, most Importantly, the campaign made people take that final crucial step and actually vote as 88% turnout was reached. Far higher than the expected 55%.

Creative Execution

A few days before polling, we put back Ben Ali's giant poster in La Goulette. The exact same one that had been there for years and torn down in the first hours of the Revolution. Then we let the people experience live the real danger of abstention: the return of dictatorship ! A very special poster designed to provoke protests and lead people to take action. People reacted as we expected and torn the poster down. But when they did so, they discovered another one underneath saying: BEWARE, DICTATORSHIP CAN RETURN. ON OCTOBER 23RD, GO OUT AND VOTE + a url for neutral informations on the candidates' programs. To reach a wider audience, the event was filmed and posted online under the title "Ben Ali is back" so that webusers could also experience the return of Ben Ali.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Within a few months, Tunisia went from decades of dictatorship and one political party... to its first ever free and fair elections, 1600 candidates and over exposure to countless political campaigns and advertising. As a direct result of the confusion that arose, many had completely lost interest in politics. Only 55% at best would go and vote. Thus forgetting the main objective of the Revolution: Democracy for Tunisia. Engagement Citoyen, a non-profit organization that aims to promote Tunisians' democratic awakening, asked us to turn apathy into action and inspire a higher turnout at upcoming elections. We therefore needed to re-activate people's sense of political engagement with a strong and effective reminder. Something that would break through the advertising clutter and convey a simple but powerful message. So we set up a provocative and visually engaging outdoor stunt and showed everyone that if they didn't vote, their Revolution was in vain.