Agency Work

Partners + Napier Launches "The Vote Needs U" Campaign Ahead of Historic Midterm Elections

Provocative, Nonpartisan Ad Campaign Encourages Voters to Take a Stand on Hot-button Issues That Matter Most to Them
September 11, 2018

With National Election Day looming on Nov. 6, Partners + Napier has launched a provocative ad campaign to encourage voting: The Vote Needs U.

In response to Pew Research from 2016 that showed 60 million U.S. citizens – or one-in-four eligible voters – were not even registered, the campaign uses print and social media to issue a compelling call directly to individual members of the electorate to exercise their fundamental, democratic right to vote.

Tied together with a #TheVoteNeedsU hashtag, the work spotlights a variety of hot-button issues that spark passionate debate on both sides of the aisle, including reproductive rights, gun control, legalizing marijuana, border security, the Supreme Court, equal rights, the Russia probe and more. In each execution, the letter “u” is missing from the headline to creatively drive home the point that the vote literally needs “you” to take a stand on the issues each individual is most passionate about.

“This campaign is built on the insight that voting is one of the most personal things we can do. Voting literally makes your opinions, values and beliefs count. So instead of simply reminding people to vote, which historically doesn’t get people to the polls, we’re centering the campaign around hot-button issues that will provoke Americans to pull levers in the voting booth on November 6 and truly affect change,” said Pete VonDerLinn, executive creative director at Partners + Napier.

Visitors to TheVoteNeedsU.com will find rotating images of an initial pool of eight controversial issues with a simple line of copy – “Wherever you stand, the vote needs U” – presented in an intentionally nonpartisan way. They will also be able to add issues that mean the most to them to the mix. And to help encourage their friends and family to vote, they will be able to easily share the images and issues they care about across their own social channels, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The website also provides links to help those who need to register to vote to do so via TurboVote.org or Vote.org, where they can also find their local polling place.

“If you don’t vote, you and your voice are missing – from the action, from the conversation, from the solution. This campaign puts today’s most important issues front and center, with a call to action to insert yourself in the process and participate in our democracy. Whatever your political beliefs, wherever you stand, the vote needs you,” added VonDerLinn.