Advertisers support #TimeToVote initiative ahead of general election
One third of registered voters didn’t cast their ballot in the last general election. To address this, a group of media and creative companies are giving employees no excuse not to vote on Thursday (8 June) by allowing flexible working for those heading to the polling station.
#TimeToVote
Wieden & Kennedy, Brothers & Sisters and Creature of London are among dozens of companies signed up to the #TimeToVote initiative, with the aim of encouraging workers to exercise their democratic right – regardless of their politics.
“Time To Vote seemed like something we couldn’t not do,” said Iain Tait, executive creative director of Wieden & Kennedy. “Getting people to turn out for these elections is more important than ever, whatever your political leanings.”
Sara Bender, strategy director at Mindshare, Ella Saltmarshe, founder of The Comms Lab and Pete Hellicar, founder of Hellicar Studio jointly set up the initiative, believing that planning a trip to the polling booth in advance makes people significantly more likely to vote.
To continue to raise awareness of the campaign on election day, staff are encouraged to share selfies from polling stations with the #TimeToVote hashtag. The initiative also offers to approach companies on behalf of employees, by sending letters explaining the straightforward proposition to managers.
A similar campaign called Take Off Election Day took off during last year’s US election. Spotify, SurveyMonkey and Western Union were among hundreds of companies that pledged to give employees time off to vote.