Clean Elections Youth Voter Campaign '18 in 2018' Wins National Award

PHOENIX, March 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) voter education program targeting Arizona's Gen Z and Millennial voters, '18 in 2018' wins national PRWeek Award one of the industry's highest accolades.  The CCEC campaign rose to the top from many submissions winning in the category of 'Best in Public Sector Campaigns' for the entire United States.

"We are ecstatic to bring the PRWeek Award for 'Best in Public Sector Campaigns' for '18 in 2018' home to Arizona," said Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Voter Education Director, Gina Roberts. "Shining light on the importance of civic involvement before a national audience of industry leaders was gratifying. We will continue to challenge ourselves to best meet the needs of voters and are already collaborating with our agency, RIESTER, on the next big idea to increase voter participation in our state."

The CCEC award-winning '18 in 2018' case study that summarizes the campaign's impact is featured on the CCEC YouTube channel. It competed in the category against campaigns from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Procter & Gamble and against 70-year old agency Ogilvy who created 'Covered California'. As a multi-channel youth voter education campaign, it resulted in exponential social media engagement and user-generated content, delivering strong results including 4,200 intentions to register to vote and was credited with more than 60 percent of visits to the CCEC website in 2018.

The origins of the '18 in 2018' campaign came from an idea to capitalize on the last two digits of the year '18' as a way of emphasizing that the legal voting age is 18. Knowing that street art and social media were definite subcultures for this age group and a way to engage this audience the campaign centerpiece, an art installation of 10' x 10' multi-colored wings combined with an augmented reality (AR) mobile experience that led people to the CCEC website to register to vote, quickly gained traction. With a few clicks on an app and a unique QR code, the wings begin to move and the person appears to be on the verge of taking flight; and why the mural is called Take Flight, with an implied: with your vote. The mural continues to be hugely popular and will continue to animate with AR through 2019. There have been thousands of pictures and videos taken at Take Flight installed in the Phoenix arts district as well as a popular concert venue in Tucson, Arizona.

The annual PRWeek Awards celebrates the best of the best corporate, agency, nonprofit, and education teams, and the work they produced during the entry period. Only 41 trophies are awarded each year, so each one is truly special. Winners were announced on March 21 at a live event in Manhattan.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission was established by Arizona voters to restore citizen participation and confidence in Arizona's political system, to improve the integrity of State government and to promote freedom of speech under the U.S. and Arizona Constitutions. Visit www.azcleanelections.gov to learn more.

SOURCE Citizens Clean Elections Commission

Related Links

http://www.azcleanelections.gov