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“Polyvocal” mobilizing (with) feelings of hope and community

Quid and Instituto Lamparina

Quid and Instituto Lamparina worked with other civil society actors on a collective campaign to get Brazilian youth to register to vote during one of the most important elections in the country’s recent history. 

Maíra Berutti, Director of Intelligence at Quid, talks about their work getting young people to vote – she says that focusing on recovering positive feelings formerly associated with democratic institutions is key: 

We did social listening analysis that helped us understand what was being said about registering to vote, how the youth were mobilized or demobilized in relation to this issue. 

We identified a lot of nostalgia […] We had this first insight that we would have to rescue a little of this, this positive feeling that existed in relation to that moment of the vote. 

Then we held discussion groups to understand some of the demotivation. We talked to young people who had already registered to vote and young people who hadn’t, so we could understand some of these nuances.

They worked within a campaign ecosystem (i.e. a group of different campaigns from different organizations, but with similar goals) that emphasized to people that the issues they were campaigning around weren’t just “activist” issues: they were about people’s lives. This was especially important given Brazil’s highly polarized context. 

Gabi Juns, director and co-founder of Instituto Lamparina, says: 

I think that what we got very right [in the campaign] was finding [various] channels and messengers, not [just] activists. [So that the public would] understand that our causes are not “activist” causes: they are about life. 

And then we achieved some things in 2022 that were interesting: instead of all the organizations doing one unique campaign, we understood that we were going for a strategy of a lot of diversity. [With this] we also created the feeling that everyone is talking about [the issues] – not just a “small group of activists”. 

We’re seeing the strength of “pulverization”. So, if I have to make campaign materials for five organizations to be able to position themselves with five different [visual] identities, I’m going to do it. 

The campaign defined itself as “polyvocal”, with “many voices coming together, each voice individual and distinct and speaking for change in the same direction”. 

They used messages that would inspire young people to vote by bringing up the reasons why they would vote (such as “Go vote for the Amazonian Forest” or “Go vote for Indigenous participation in politics”),  and used creative strategies like working with the fanclub of a popular K-Pop band, getting support from celebrities and influencers and designing beautiful pieces that alluded to the progressive future they were working towards.

In 2022, the year when this campaign was rolled out, Brazil had a record number of young voters registering to vote.

Learn more about this campaign below: