When the state of Texas rolled out new voting laws, they needed a campaign to get the word out about where and how Texans could vote in primary and general elections. The Texas Secretary of State partnered with GDC to run multi-faceted educational campaigns for Texas voters in 2018 and again in 2020.
Project Overview
In 2018, the state of Texas passed Senate Bill 14 creating a requirement for voters to show one of seven forms of photo ID when voting in person. The Secretary of State’s office was tasked with ensuring that all Texans understand what forms of photo IDs were acceptable to vote. GDC was engaged in 2018 and again in 2020 to help communicate important messages to voters in the state.
Project Narrative
GDC created a multicultural Voter education campaign to provide Texans 18 and older with guidance, education and information about the process of registering to vote, checking to see if you were already registered, where to obtain an application to register to vote, the seven acceptable forms of photo ID, and guiding Texans to VoteTexas.gov as a resource for all mentioned.
GDC started with research to gain a better understanding of market awareness to the ID change and other voter awareness. With these insights, GDC created messaging in English and Spanish — Ready. Check. Vote. (Spanish version – Listo? Verifique. Vote!) Next, we executed a highly-impactful targeted marketing campaign with clear messaging and creative components specifically designed and focus group tested to ensure they resonate with key target audiences. A statewide paid media campaign with a concentration in key cities—Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth, Brownsville and Hidalgo— was used to share facts about what ID was needed to cast a ballot.
In addition to traditional and digital media, a partnership toolkit was created which consisted of posters, mini memory games, information cards, stickers and branded pens. These kits were shared with universities, state superintendents, county clerk election administrators.
Another popular game GDC created was the ID Catch online game, which was incorporated into our digital media buy. The game was accessed via a digital banner ad, with the player trying to catch all seven approved photo IDs.
This game and other content was critical to a social media strategy which targeted an 18-24 demographic with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and SnapChat, with filters and other engaging content.
At GDC, we understand the importance of engaging directly with the target audiences to inform and prompt them to act. Our PR and Experiential team created an integrated plan of pitching news media, booking lifestyle talk shows and grassroots outreach events to maximize campaign impact by being able to interact directly with our target audiences and answer questions. Even in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, we could be creative in how our outreach was executed with strong results.
Finally, measurement is critical to ensuring your messages are heard and acted upon. GDC leveraged poll tracking across the state so that we could be certain our messages were not only effective but resonated.
Project Results
Despite a pandemic, there were more voters in Texas who went to the polls this year than in previous elections. Many of our tactics exceeded expectations and industry standards. For example, our click-thru-rate (CTR) on the gamification of the Voter ID concept reached nearly 800,000 people with an astounding 22% click-thru-rating (CTR) which well-exceeded the industry standards. Our grassroots outreach efforts were shared on social media sites across the state and the client was thrilled at the outreach efforts and success of the campaign.