Student vote campaign attracts attention

Wintec communication students, the majority of whom are in
the youth voting range of 18-25, have developed a campaign that may lead to a
much-vaunted electoral “Youth Quake”.

Initially, the students took a brief from well-known and respected client, YWCA Hamilton, to run a campaign aimed at increasing the youth women’s vote. It morphed into a campaign to include all youth voters.

Success has come in many forms during this collaborative marketing
campaign.

The combined collaboration saw a website designed by student, Jed Murtaugh, a video compiled by Josiah Peipi and Paula Jacobsen, and social media accounts set up for Facebook and Instagram by Jamie Batters.

Jacobsen told the Waikato Independent their youthvotenz.com website and social media traffic had shown signs of success by way of traffic flow increase and surge.

“(In) Our collaboration with our client (the YWCA) to get our content out and to reach our target demographic, the (campaign) has been quite successful. This success, is being able to produce good, quality content and start to see an audience grow on the social media platforms and also seeing that traffic on to the website.

“We achieved the client’s main brief. We managed to hit the targets they’ve asked for.”

In the 2017 election, under 70 percent of the youth vote
turned out.

Traditionally the youth vote has always lagged behind the
older voting groups, with more than 94 percent of 65-year-olds voting in 2017.

 Many groups and
individuals around the country have suggested civil education in our schools to
help turn around youth voter apathy.

International student Danielle Zollickhofer says her own
partner voted for the first time this year despite being eligible previously.

Zollickhofer helped her youthvotenz.com class by writing articles in newspapers.

“Younger people think voting is only for older people.
My partner thinks his vote would not make a difference. I disagree.  Every vote matters.”