MDS Creative Advertising alumni are encouraging overseas Kiwis to vote

When nonpartisan initiative Every Kiwi Vote Counts approached Special Group with the task of trying to convince the approximate 1 million Kiwis who live overseas to vote in the 2020 New Zealand election, Till and Jack put forward the idea that NZ needed the help of some real professionals. Russians.

Till is one of our Bachelor of Media Design grads who then went on to do our Creative Advertising course in 2017 where he teamed up with copywriter, Jack Gravatt. With the pair being picked up by Special soon after their end of year show.

This campaign for Every Kiwi Vote Counts, was brought to life by Special Group and Sweetshop.

Directed by Sweetshop’s Damien Shatford, the entertaining and humorous films were the feature of the integrated campaign that incited meddling on a daily basis, over an 18-day enrolment and voting window. Like any good meddler, the Russian, Viktor, took to Facebook and other social platforms to influence. He reached Kiwis through social groups, mobile billboards in Kiwi-populated parts of foreign cities like London, as well as getting his exploits written up in The Guardian UK, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC Australia, even SBS Russian.

As one would expect from the Russians, they got the job done, with a record number of overseas New Zealanders voting in this year’s election.

Says Lisa Fedyszyn, executive creative director, Special Group New Zealand: “The response to the campaign has been amazing. To have a 24% jump in overseas enrolments, a 50% jump in online vote uploads and comments in social saying that it was the first time someone had voted in over 20 years and others voted because of Viktor, was phenomenal. In these times with more and more Kiwis returning to their homeland, having your say is as important as ever, and to see such a response was a great result for New Zealand democracy.”

It's incredible to see the success of our alumni once they are out in the industry!