GUERRILLA GARDEN CENTRE
Our future is in your hands
Agency: The Comms Lab | Partner: UK Student Climate Network
Campaign: #itsourtime, climate voter registration campaign
Brief: How can we mobilise and inspire young people to activate adults who care about the environment to register to vote before the deadline
Working with the brilliant Ella Saltmarshe’s Comms Lab, and in collaboration with the UKSCN and Birmingham’s @youthstrike4climate, we staged a creative action with climate-concerned young people in Europe's demographically youngest city, asking adults who care about the environment to register to vote before the deadline.
Together we created a giant guerrilla gardening installation, spelling out the words ACT NOW, and handed out over 300 potted seedlings to adults, symbolising future hope, youth and growth. Each pot contained a plant marker with the plea:
‘Our future is in your hands.
#ItsOurTime #MakeClimateCount
https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote’
I worked with teenagers who didn’t have a voice in the election. They were frustrated that they couldn’t register to vote and care deeply about climate change. Their future was, and still is, in our hands.
Alongside this I commissioned illustrator, Rebecca Strickson, to create a poster campaign for billboards and ad vans, targeting ‘climate hero’ students and constituents in Canterbury.
As of Nov 2019 the #itsourtime campaign secured a reach of 6m, with nationwide-press coverage and the largest ever pre-election surge with 2m new registered 18-34 yr old voters.
Photography, @danholdenphoto
Videography, Mathew McDonnell
