Ready, set, VotE!

Role: Creative Director

United We Dream Action’s 8-bit Solution

The folks at United We Dream Action's (UWDA) political team did some major research to connect with young Latino voters, specifically those who are 18 to 25 years old.

Now, traditionally, this group tends to be less politically active than others due to their age, gender, and race. They do tend to tune into talk radio, podcasts, and even Joe Rogan –– unfortunately, that means they have access to a lot of misinformation.

On top of this, they're usually not getting much political info at all.

Here’s the good news: UWDA's research found that these voters are very engaged with YouTube. They love to game and watch gaming content on the platform. In fact, they even play more video games than their white counterparts and spend more time on YouTube than other age groups.

We planned to use UWDA's research to make video content that really spoke to the young Latino voters we're trying to connect with. Our concept incorporated language, themes, and visuals that they're used to seeing in gaming content.

I suggested the 8-bit theme as a way to get an ad that used the research well, would make a good-looking ad, and would be affordable for the organization to produce in a tight time frame. We worked with a video production agency to develop an animated video, with myself leading the production’s visual look and feel as well as project management. Our team was also responsible for developing the copy to be used in the ad.

Key Messaging:

  • Here's the deal: we know it won't be easy, but we're in this together.

  • We've got to work hard and work smart to come out on top.

  • When we do win, you know we'll celebrate like champs!

Testing, one, two, three…

First, we wanted to make sure we were on the right track. Our agency ran a test where my creative team tried out a few different visual approaches: one was like the standard "let's get out and vote" ad, another was totally video game-style, and one was a mix of both.

The numbers proved it: the video game concept won.

Assured our concept was in the direction, we went all in and made our final creative look just like an arcade game from back in the day. Think Double Dragon, but with a fighter hero.

We presented the need to get out and vote as a challenge that voters and their communities had the power to solve. At the end of the day, our hero performs his civic duty and celebrates his achievement.

The Results

  • Thanks to United We Dream Action's research and our creative solution, the project was a huge success. Young Latino voters showed they were ready to get in the game for the midterm election

  • After the midterms, we didn't slow down. Our client reached out to us and asked for a revamped video creative for the US Senate runoff in Georgia - a place where the Latino vote is growing and young people can really make a difference.