When At Large Media first met with the team at Check Your Head the goal was clear:  get more young people out to the polls!  With years of advocacy experience Check Your Head had lots of strategies for doing just that, including street canvassing, live events and creating merchandise.  They weren’t, however, using any new media platforms to reach their target audience.

At Large always reminds clients to talk to people where they are, and this was no exception.  If you want to reach 18-24 year olds in British Columbia you have to be using the platforms THEY are using which, of course, means the web and mobile phones. 

We began by talking to young people.  While many stakeholders and politicians believed that young people weren’t voting because they didn’t care about this issues, this was not at all what we found.  In fact young people cared very much about issues such as education, health and the environment.  What they were apathetic about was the political PROCESS.  Many young people felt that, whether they turned up at the polls or not, “the same white guy would get into power.”  They didn’t feel that their voice would make a difference.

Meanwhile, 8 million Canadians were registering their vote with Canadian Idol every week, making sure their voice was heard when it came to who the next Canadian pop star should be.  They voted for the next Canadian Idol because:

• It was easy
• It was quick
• It was fun
• They could immediately see that their voices were being heard

So, we decided to learn from Canadian Idol, and use mobile phones and the web to make voting meaningful for young British Columbians.

A central component of Get Your Vote On was the innovative on-line community that uses mobile technology to engage & educate young people about citizenship, democracy, and key voter issues.

GYVO is about engaging with young people using the platforms they prefer - mobile phones and the web.

GYVO activities and events encouraged tens of thousands of young people to the polls. Over the course of our BC experience, Get Your Vote On attracted over 150 community and business partners, and saw over 2000 young British Columbians become active members of the GYVO network. Our mobile network made it easy for young people to join up, and when we sent them polls on their mobile phones, their responses come almost instantly.

With a tested technology infrastructure and a host of innovative tools designed to make voting fun, Get Your Vote On is now turning its attention to the rest of Canada.

For a list of all At Large Media projects, please see this page