Campaigns are not just about politics. Now, many young people dare to express their opinions through campaigns in various fields. One of the most popular examples is the story of a teenager from Sweden, Greta Thunberg, who spoke out loud about her concerns about environmental issues.
Thunberg started her campaign in 2018 by skipping school for days to demonstrate in front of the Swedish parliament building. He asked the Swedish government to take action on the dangers of climate change. Thunberg's brave actions then inspired more than 1.4 million young people in 300 cities around the world to join her in highlighting the issue of climate change and global warming in 2019.
Not only Thunberg's story, there are many other young people who have succeeded in shaking up the world through campaigns. There are things that touch on humanity, economics, education, animals, and many more.
If you are one of the many young people who are moved to start a campaign in a certain field, it is important to know everything about the secrets of success. For more details, see the following review to prepare for your first campaign.
What is a Campaign?
Rogers and Storey, in their book Communication Campaign. defines a campaign as a series of planned communication actions aimed at creating a certain effect on the wider community and carried out continuously over a certain period of time. All campaign activities are based on the principle of persuasion by inviting or encouraging the public to accept and do something voluntarily.
For example, in Thunberg's campaign, there was a clear communication message, namely the impact of climate change. Moreover, at that time Thunberg was only 16 years old, her courage and concern then encouraged millions of young people around the world to take similar actions voluntarily. They move with the idea that climate change will be felt by the world's population of all ages so that it must be prevented as much as possible from now on.
Driving Factors for Campaign Success
There are several factors that drive the success of a campaign, including:
- Have a strong message or idea based on a clear background.
- Impact on the wider community.
- The campaign maker shows persistence or determination in achieving the specified goals.
- Using creative means or media in channeling the campaign.
- Done sustainably.
Impact of the Campaign on the Wider Society
Several campaigns have succeeded in having an impact on the wider community, what are they?
In 2017, the boy group BTS collaborated with UNICEF to campaign "Love Myself" as a movement to combat violence, harassment and intimidation, as well as promote self-confidence in young people. BTS hopes that the message of "Love Myself" can continue to be spread so that it can have a positive influence on everyone's lives.
The campaign uses quite extensive means to spread its campaign message, for example through hashtags on social media, selling knick-knacks, and BTS' world music tour in 2018-2019. According to UNICEF analysis, the “Love Myself” campaign has generated nearly five million tweets and more than 50 million actions, such as likes, retweets, replies and comments. Apart from that, booths for "Love Myself" have also been set up in various corners of the world, such as in South Korea, the United States, Hong Kong, Thailand and England.
UNICEF will then use all the money raised from the campaign for various programs to end violence among young people.
Several large companies, such as Starbucks and KFC in Indonesia, have initiated the #NoPlasticStraws campaign by no longer providing plastic straws to their visitors. The campaign was motivated by the discovery of large amounts of plastic waste polluting the environment, especially in water areas. Contaminated waste then threatens life in the ocean, for example several turtles were found to have died from eating plastic.
Therefore, in 2020, Starbucks gradually replaced plastic straws with paper straws. Through this campaign, it is estimated that more than 30 million plastic straws will be reduced per year.
Meanwhile, KFC had already started this campaign, to be precise in 2017. KFC is gradually eliminating plastic straws in their outlets.
Not only these two companies, now many outlets or restaurants have eliminated plastic straws to accompany their drinks. Paper straws are the preferred alternative to plastic straws.
Well, that's all about the campaign and the big impact it has had on various aspects of life. Have you started to move to become a campaign maker? Don't forget to follow the tips above!