Bringing a new voice for the animals into Australian Parliament

The Animal Justice Party is the only political party solely dedicated to standing up for the rights of animals in Australia to protect them from cruelty. AJP enlisted our help in the final weeks of their 2019 New South Wales state election campaign to use digital political advertising to generate greater awareness of AJP’s policies and candidates, including their lead candidate for the Upper House, Emma Hurst. The goal was to get Emma Hurst elected as their second party member in Parliament – a huge deal for the party and for the animals.

Our approach was to create a multi-touchpoint political advertising campaign leveraging paid search (Google Ads) and paid social media (Facebook and Instagram) to both re-engage their current audience and tap into new audiences who were likely to be swing voters due to the volatility of the two main political parties.

We devised a messaging strategy that gave voice to the growing public concern about the neglect of domestic, farmed, and wild animals by political parties in Australia. Furthermore, we let voters know that a vote for AJP helps people by providing a stable and healthy environment for future generations, and pushing for equality and safety in areas such as gun use, violence, health, education, and mental health. For all audiences, current and new, we aligned our messaging with their passion points and what AJP could accomplish for them.

Over just ten days, our ads reached hundreds of thousands of unique voters. We followed up a second time with those who demonstrated high interest. Ultimately, between paid social and search, we generated 8,828 high-intent website clicks. When all of the votes were tallied, Hurst beat her pro-farming opponent, Christian Democrat Paul Green, by about 8,000 votes to secure the party’s second seat in the NSW Legislative Council and third seat in Parliament.

230,000+

Voters reached

74,000+

10-second video views

8,828

High-intent website clicks

“"You believed that the Animal Justice Party can make a difference in Parliament. You believed that together we can change the world. You believed, and because of your confidence in us, we won! Today I write to tell you the wonderful news that the animals have another voice in Parliament in NSW."”

Emma Hurst Animal Justice Party Candidate

Strategy

Build & Engage Communities

Individuals allow organizations to achieve goals of all shapes and sizes. We seek out the right people and inspire them to get involved and take action.

Multi-Touchpoint Campaigns

Momentum matters. When we need supporters to take action, we strive to meet them where they are—on their Twitter feed, in their inbox or chatting with their friends.

Track Everything

Tracking digital efforts provides a clear path to optimizing and prioritizing next steps. It can take a minute to set up, but is always, always worth it.

Implementation

Paid Search

We leveraged search intent to drive highly qualified traffic to to AJP NSW’s 2019 State Elections landing page for further discovery. The landing page included more information on Emma Hurst and how to vote in the upcoming election. Instead of demanding their vote, we asked Google users to put their reservations aside and learn more about the AJP.

Our search ads reached the right voters at the right time in order to drive highly qualified site visits. The overall click-through-rate was 358% higher than the industry average for Google Ads, with a 77% lower than average cost-per-click.

Social Media Advertising

In addition to retargeting current audiences, we reached new audiences on Facebook and Instagram based on their affinities for animal rights and welfare, the environment, and progressive policies – issues central to the AJP platform.

Our social media ads reached over 230,000 people and generated over 70,000 video views. In a close election, Facebook video ads may have proven crucial to raising awareness and generating the votes needed for AJP to secure a second Upper House seat. Our top-performing ad conveyed a simple message about AJP – that a vote for AJP was a vote for people, animals, and the environment. The Facebook ads generated over 5,000 engagements, with people asking questions about the candidate, party, and election.

Results

In just 10 days leading up to the state elections, our campaign reached over 700,000 potential voters and educated over 70,000 on the Animal Justice Party’s candidate and platform. When the votes were counted, AJP candidate Emma Hurst beat her opponent by a margin of just 8,000 votes – demonstrating the critical impact of reaching voters across multiple touchpoints.

As more political campaigns turn to digital to reach voters where they are, we’ve developed a strong framework for engaging high-intent audiences and converting digital success metrics into real-life votes.

Ready to drive growth and impact through digital strategies?

Contact us