Voting is a cornerstone of modern democracy. See how this brand reminded citizens of their duty to vote.
| From the desk of Miles Everson: I’m excited to highlight yet another successful campaign in today’s edition of “Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing!” For those of you who may not know, guerrilla marketing is an out-of-the-box strategy that empowers marketers to use unconventional strategies when engaging with their target audience. I’m a fan of this strategy because it exemplifies just how impactful out-of-the-box campaigns can be. For today’s case study, I’ll be highlighting a guerrilla marketing campaign that helped one of the world’s most populous democracies increase voter turnout. Curious? Continue reading below! |
Voting is a cornerstone of modern democracy. See how this brand reminded citizens of their duty to vote. India is one of the world’s biggest democracies. According to 2024 figures, the country had around 969 million registered voters out of a population of 1.4 billion. That’s an impressive number. Unfortunately, India’s populous electorate isn’t free from the problems modern democracies face. Chief among those problems had to do with turnout. In one of its previous elections, 33% of its eligible voters didn’t practice their right to vote. Two of the reasons that stood out are lack of awareness and political alienation. In a populous democracy such as India’s, 33% represents a significant amount of unused votes. More importantly, the reasons leading up to that outcome poses serious challenges with political and societal ramifications. The significance of those uncomfortable facts weren’t lost among stakeholders in India. That’s why in 2024, The Times of India, one of the country’s most recognizable publications, and the Election Commission of India set out to improve voter turnout. How? Keep reading below … An Ink of Democracy The Election Commission of India and the Times of India wanted to identify how to encourage voters to turn up for the 2024 general election. To do so, they solicited ideas from multiple organizations and stakeholders. The winning one came from creative agency Havas Creative India. The winning idea? Using unused electoral ink as the hook for a campaign dubbed “Ink of Democracy.” Unused votes weren’t the only byproduct of a significant number of voters not exercising their right. Unfortunately, their absence led to 7,500 liters of unused election ink. While that may seem like a small figure, unused ink is still wasted if it isn’t put to use. So instead of letting unused ink go to waste, Havas Creative India decided to use it as the hook for “The Ink of Democracy” campaign.
The rationale behind this hook was simple yet immensely impactful: What better way to remind the eligible of their sacred right to vote than unused election ink? As part of the campaign, The Times of India and The Economic Times published newspaper issues using the purple-colored election ink. For every 132 absent voters, a page was printed, leading to a total of 2.28 million pages printed. … and the core message behind “Ink of Democracy”? “Don’t waste a drop of electoral ink. Don’t waste the power of democracy.” The result? The campaign, through its wide reach, helped add 30 million more voters, leading to 642 million voters turning up in India’s 2024 General Elections. As for Times of India, the campaign generated a 280% increase in brand mentions. As an added bonus, the “Ink of Democracy” campaign earned positive attention from prestigious creative organizations like Cannes Lions, D&AD, and The One Club! — The success of the “Ink of Democracy” campaign shows just how impactful and transformative guerrilla marketing can be when executed perfectly. This campaign showed that aside from creating hype, spreading awareness, and generating sales, guerrilla marketing campaigns can be used to achieve beneficial results for societies at large. In the case of “Ink of Democracy,” it helped one of the world’s most populous democracies combat one of modern democracy’s most challenging problems in a creative, witty, and impactful way! Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful. Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing! Do you want to know how one soap brand redefined beauty in the AI era? See it in next week’s article! |
Miles Everson
CEO of MBO Partners and former Global Advisory and Consulting CEO at PwC, Everson has worked with many of the world's largest and most prominent organizations, specializing in executive management. He helps companies balance growth, reduce risk, maximize return, and excel in strategic business priorities.
He is a sought-after public speaker and contributor and has been a case study for success from Harvard Business School.
Everson is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants. He graduated from St. Cloud State University with a B.S. in Accounting.
