Climate Change. Education crisis. Extremism. Every single day, the government legislates critical matters that will affect Germany’s youth. But although they’re regarded as adults at 16 in other areas of the law, the voting age remains 18. Our target was to collect 25k signatures to force a referendum on the voting age, with the ultimate goal of lowering the voting age nationwide from 18 to 16.

The solution was to create a campaign against the law, using the law itself. Because the same law that prohibits 16-year-olds from voting, allows them to put their life in danger in the fire brigade, apply to the army and much more. If we trust youths to do all this, shouldn’t we trust them to have a voice about their future? This law paradox was uncovered in all channels to shake things up and rally as many people as possible to our cause. The goal was to collect 25k+ signatures for a political referendum to lower the voting age to 16.

We were facing a big challenge because our target group was basically everyone in Germany. Younger people were addressed because it was about their right to vote from the age of 16. The parent’s generation was addressed as well because it was about the future of their children. We needed a PR strategy that reached as many people as possible. So we created assets and touchpoints that went beyond traditional and social media. From street stalls to a speech in front of the European Council. We chose to further uncover the law paradox using all available media channels (OOH, TV, Social, etc). But the campaign was ultimately fueled by PR, allowing us to pick up momentum and to create a non-partisan movement. The message was clear: Young people have earned the right to vote. Our call-to-action “Sign the referendum #vote16 now” was spread by more than 60 organizations and parties.

As a grassroots movement we needed to gain momentum to collect 25k signatures for the referendum. To reach this goal we’ve mobilized the people by exposing the law paradox everywhere, first and foremost using all main social channels: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and others. But we didn’t stop there. Whether it was OOH ads, street stalls or a speech in the Council of Europe. Whether it was talk shows or press conferences, the campaign website or our merchandise: Everything was used as content for social media. From 3 May 2023, #vote16 appeared everywhere with the same message: Young people have earned the right to vote. We succeeded in activating influencers, like party leaders and even the chancellor of Germany. A non-partisan movement emerged, born in the streams and timelines. Over 60 brands joined the #vote16 movement, asking their followers to sign the referendum.

#vote16 is at its core a social campaign. Because it was there, in the streams and timelines of social media, that #vote16 truly came to life: Out of our social-media campaign a non-partisan movement was born that soon spread throughout Germany. From Social Democrats to the Green Party. From Free Democrats to the pan-European party VOLT. From youth organizations to the Trade Union Confederation. In total, over 60 brands joined the #vote16 movement to change the legal voting age to 16. Despite some backlash from Germany’s right-wing party AFD #vote16 was unstoppable. The campaign had a reach of 121 million and 4.1 million euro of earned media. As a result, far more than the required 25k signatures for the referendum were collected. The right to vote from the age of 16 has been introduced in 11 states of Germany. And we are working on changing the law nationwide.