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How did our PR agency make its debut in big politics?

We have compiled our observations and conclusions from the campaign into an ebook. Download it here: Building a social campaign based on Debutants23.

Until now, we have invited guests to press breakfasts. In the fall of 2023, for the first time, we organized pre-election debates. Typically, we compete for interviews and publications. This time, we were fighting for high voter turnout. Usually, we build relationships between clients and their partners. This year, Profeina built a bridge between young voters and candidates with green and clean-air agendas. What was the Debutants ’23 campaign really about?

The election night on October 15 brought many surprising results. One of them was undoubtedly record-breaking voter turnout – for the first time, nearly three-quarters of Polish citizens went to cast their vote. The most impressive was the increase in electoral interest among the younger generation – in the 18–29 age group, voter turnout rose from 46% in 2019 to 71% this year!

Interestingly, in a recent study by the Batorego Foundation, as many as 78% of respondents stated that pro-turnout campaigns encouraged them to participate in the elections. Their importance is further highlighted by one of the key findings of the Debutants ’23 report – prepared by the PR agency Profeina together with researchers from Lat Dwudziestych – showing that as late as June, only 43% of first-time voters were certain they would cast their vote, while another 25% said they would “rather” take part in the elections.

However, the campaign, which launched together with the publication of the “Debutants ’23” report on the attitudes of 1.5 million young Poles making their debut on the political scene, was something slightly different than just a voter mobilization campaign.

We conducted the activities in cooperation with Clean Air Fund, an international non-profit organization working to systematically address air quality issues. The election campaign was the perfect moment to examine how important this topic is both for first-time voters and for politicians running for parliament.

Our goal was to connect these two groups: candidates for whom clean air and other environmental issues are important, and young voters who would be looking for their representatives in the election. The aim was to show candidates what young people (not only by age, but also in mindset) expect, so that politicians running in the election would be willing to approach them with concrete proposals.

How did we do it? Step by step.

STEP 1: REPORT

Naturally, there were already other projects studying the young generation, but our idea of focusing on people voting for the first time (aged 18–21) in connection with the upcoming elections was very fresh. It created a new, original narrative for the media.

The study itself was thoroughly conducted by the agency Lata Dwudzieste. It consisted of a qualitative analysis and a quantitative survey conducted on a group of 1,000 young people. The resulting report, titled “Debiutanci ’23,” in addition to being a good PR tool, serves as a valuable source of knowledge about young adults for political decision-makers.

Love, health, family, and friendship – these are the values shared by the majority of respondents in the Debiutanci ‘23 study. Young voters indicated them as the most important far more often than faith and patriotism, tolerance and ecology, or prestige and wealth.
The dominant attitudes in this group include frustration with the political situation in Poland (80 percent), concerns related to inflation and the cost of living (72 percent), anxiety associated with entering adulthood (63 percent), and concern for the state of the planet and the environment (59 percent). Respondents repeatedly expressed worry about their own mental well-being and that of their loved ones.
Young people are not drawn to ecology as an idea itself, but many of the needs they report are green demands – one of the most popular is affordable and accessible public transport (35 percent), and nearly half would like to live in a 15-minute city (i.e., one in which the most important services, such as schools, shops, and healthcare facilities, are accessible within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from residential areas).

STEP 2: NARRATIVE

The results of the study were very complex and at times internally inconsistent. But that is hardly surprising – after all, they described an entire generation made up of very diverse individuals and groups with sometimes opposing motivations. Therefore, simply publishing the report online and allowing each person to freely select individual findings to support their own thesis carried the risk that dozens of conflicting stories would emerge based on it. That is why, together with the report, we provided press releases and expert commentary that shaped the narrative and made it more difficult to misuse the interpretation of the results.

We communicated the results in a way that was both alarming and hopeful at the same time. The authors of the report – from Profeina and Lata Dwudzieste – were personally involved in promoting the study’s findings in the media.

Creating a website with the most interesting findings from the study and expert commentary on them proved to be a good move. After it turned out that some content related to the report was being published on social media, and that users preferred not to leave the app, we quickly decided to create an extension of our website on Instagram. This allowed users to interact with us more easily and follow the campaign.

Communication activities took place mainly on the internet, although our messages also appeared in traditional media. The report’s agenda was most readily shared by mainstream outlets with a wide reach. The campaign was covered, among others, by Onet, Gazeta Wyborcza, TVN, Polsat, Rzeczpospolita, and TOK FM Radio.

STEP 3: THE VOICE OF A GENERATION

One of the challenges we faced was the age gap: can the authors of the report, who are mostly millennials, be perceived as a credible voice when speaking about young people (even while relying on a professional study on the subject)? We managed to address this by engaging non-governmental organizations and environmental movements, which are primarily made up of young people, to promote the report’s results and findings.

We engaged 8 non-governmental organizations and social movements: Inicjatywa Wschód, Młodzieżowy Strajk Klimatyczny, Rodzice dla Klimatu, Fundacja Impuls, Dom Spokojnej Młodości, More in Common, Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej, Akcja Demokracja.

There were also 7 events at which we (or our partners) were speakers: Kongres Regeneracja, INSUMMIT, EFNI, Slot Art Festival, Pol’and’Rock Festival, Misja Erasmus w Polsce, Mosty Pokoleniowe: Czas Regeneracji.

Challenges? Many media outlets focused mainly on the political preferences of first-time voters, even though the vast majority of the report concerned their attitudes toward social and environmental issues. Bringing this information to the forefront often required arranging paid publications and collaborating with climate movements.

STEP 4: CALLING POLITICIANS TO ACCOUNT

Youth Compass

Conducting the study allowed us to identify topics important to young voters – including their attitudes toward the clean air agenda and environmental protection. With this knowledge, we were able to create the Kompas Młodych (Youth Compass) – an online test based on the report’s findings that checks the extent to which voters’ opinions align with the programs of specific political parties.

When preparing the Kompas Młodych (Youth Compass), we asked election committees 16 questions, 10 of which concerned air quality issues. Five out of six nationwide election committees responded to our questions. The committees had the opportunity to add their comments to their responses.

Pre-election debates and interviews

The report also served as inspiration for three pre-election debates and enabled moderators to ask questions on green issues important to young voters, which were usually not addressed in other debates.

On September 27, Profeina, together with Rodzice dla Klimatu and Młodzieżowy Strajk Klimatyczny, organized a debate at the Climate Activism Center “Gniazdo” in Warsaw (also streamed online).

On October 11, we organized a debate online on the Onet.pl portal with young candidates. As a side note, one of its participants, Adam Gomoła, was elected as the youngest member of the 10th term of the Sejm.

On October 13, together with the Student Scientific Circle of the University of Warsaw “UW Dla Klimatu” and five magazines from the “Spięcie” project – Magazyn Kontakt, Klub Jagielloński, Krytyka Polityczna, Kultura Liberalna, and Nowa Konfederacja – we organized a debate between candidates and journalists at the Marzyciele i Rzemieślnicy venue in Warsaw (also streamed online).

In September and October, there were 8 online pre-election interviews on clean air, conducted on Instagram by Rodzice dla Klimatu and Akcja Demokracja.

Five out of the eight candidates interviewed were elected to the new parliament:

Alicja Chybicka (PO),
Joanna Mucha (Polska 2050),
Krzysztof Kwiatkowski,
Urszula Zielińska (Zieloni),
Daria Gosek-Popiołek (Razem).

STEP 5: RESULTS

Campaign in the media:

280+ publications
27.5+ million reach

The mlodziwyborcy.pl website

33,500 people visited the main page
2,000 people downloaded the report
40,000 people completed the Kompas Młodych (Youth Compass)

Engagement of “youth” non-governmental organizations and environmental activists

8 social movements engaged in promoting the report and its environmental agenda

Pre-election debates

2 offline debates organized together with social movements and students
1 online debate with Onet.pl: nearly 1 million views!
8 online pre-election interviews on clean air with well-known politicians

Political declarations regarding air quality issues important to young voters:

5 out of 6 national election committees responded to our questions (all except PiS)
5 committees agreed to increase funding for public transport and declared support for the creation of School Streets, green buffer zones, and restrictions on car traffic or parking in the vicinity of educational institutions
4 committees agreed that the development of renewable energy in Poland and the modernization of the energy grid should be accelerated
2 committees (The Left and Third Way) agreed that city roads should be narrowed in favor of sidewalks and bicycle lanes
1 committee (The Left) agreed that combustion and gasoline vehicles should be replaced with electric vehicles, both in the public and private sectors

And the final outcome to which we contributed our share: young people overwhelmingly (63%) voted for parties that included clean air issues in their electoral programs. These parties will form the next Polish government.