Egypt, Venezuela, Ukraine. Afhanistan.

In many places in the world, people are still fighting for free & independent voting.

However, what is happening in the long-established democracies?

The average voter participation in Europe is now only 43%.

The brief: Adress non-voters and position the Kleine Zeitung newspaper as a trusted opinion leader by reminding people about the importance of voting.

The experiment caused an intense public debate across all political parties about the consequences of not voting. Never before had this issue been discussed to such an extent in Austria. The Kleine Newspaper, who initiated this discussion, reinforced its status of an important political and social player within Austria. The newspaper reminded people about the importance of forming an opinion - but also of standing to it.

To make people directly experience the consequences of not voting:

The Kleine Newspaper set up an experiment within Vienna’s most popular cafes & restaurants in the week before the local elections. The customers were simply served anything, which caused a lot of discontentment. Their anger increased when they were then expected to pay for something they hadn’t ordered. The customers were then handed a bill with a message:

"Don´t let others make the choice for you. Go and Vote!"

The bill reminded the guests that there is a price to pay for not voting; you simply get what you are given.

Results:

The action was secretly caught on film and immediately became one of the most shared videos in Austria, achieving over 43 million media impressions within only 3 days.

The action initiated a public debate about the results of not voting, throughout all political parties within Austria.

In comparison to the Folks Referendum vote that had taken place earlier in the year, the voter turnout in the Austrian General Election shot up from 59,7% to 74,9%.

Among the winners was the Kleine Zeitung, the newspaper that had reminded voters "Don’t let others make the choice for you".