COI names agency trio for voter drive

by James Hamilton, Campaign 13-Oct-06

COI Communications has appointed the team of Experience, Farm Communication and glue London to develop a £5.5 million campaign to encourage the public to register to vote.

Farm, glue and Experience won in a review that included two other agency
teams: Harrison Troughton Wunderman, LBi and Manning Gottlieb OMD; and
DFGW, Red Nomad and MindShare.

The three winning agencies will be contracted to increase awareness of

voting systems over the next three years. The £5.5 million budget

may increase in this time, according to the frequency of elections.

The review comes as the Electoral Commission moves to target voter
apathy. Turnout at the 2005 general election was 61.4 per cent, up 2 per
cent on the 2001 peak, but 10 per cent down on 1997.

The Electoral Commission's campaign manager, Nina Morris, said: "We're
delighted to appoint Farm Communications, glue London and
Experience.

"They devised impressive creative ideas for encouraging people to
register to vote and identifying effective ways to reach those least
likely to be registered."

In August, the Government revived plans to permit votes to be cast
online in a bid to reverse the falling turnouts in elections, by making
voting more convenient and relevant to younger voters.