June 2024
A friend runs in the 2024 European elections on the Stati Uniti d'Europa list — a minor component of a minor coalition inside a minor list. Twenty-five years old, a first candidacy, no existing communication. I offer to take care of everything: strategy, identity, content, campaigns. Pro bono, one month, almost no budget.
Political communication and corporate communication work the same way: positioning, messages by target, competitive difference, conversion. The difference is that in politics you have less time, less budget and the "product" is a person. There is no more formative setting for anyone who does brand strategy.
I analysed the electoral landscape, the identity of the list and Aurora's profile as a person and as a politician. The goal was to find a credible, differentiating positioning: in a heterogeneous coalition, Aurora was the youngest and most authentically liberal candidate — and that became her competitive difference.
From the positioning I derived six key themes, crossing Aurora's real convictions with what the electorate was asking for and the space left open by the other candidates. Generic slogans had to give way to specific messages on specific themes, designed for different voter clusters.
The strategic analysis is confidential, but every creative and operational choice that follows derives directly from it. The method is the same one I apply to brands: understand the market, find the difference, build coherent messages.
One month and almost no budget meant one thing: concentrate everything. Few messages, the right channels, precise targeting. I designed a user journey that started from ads on Instagram and Facebook, went through the social profiles, reached the WhatsApp channel for the detail, and aimed at conversion — writing her name on the ballot.
I designed the coordinated identity and produced every graphic element: handbills, posters, brochures, banners, social cards. I edited reels, devised the WhatsApp channel as a loyalty tool, and ran directly the micro-targeted ads on Meta — reallocating budget in real time based on how each piece of content performed on each cluster.
With €560 of total budget and metrics consistently better than market averages on every indicator, Aurora obtained 1,822 preference votes — ahead of more established candidates with far greater initial visibility. In a list that overall disappointed, it is a result that shows what a precise positioning and an intelligent allocation of budget can do.
A complete system, from strategy to the last handbill.