At The Polling Station: Get People To Vote

The European parliamentary elections have started today in the Netherlands and the UK. Other European countries are voting on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. At the end of the process 736 MEPs will be elected.

Inspired by Barack Obama, European parliament candidates and parties also seem to get more and more in touch with their target audience through interactive channels via e.g. YouTube and Twitter.

And also the European Parliament is using various social media tools like YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and Flickr to get people to vote for the 2009 elections. In the “At the polling station” viral video campaign (teaser + 3 videos), their statement is clear: “Voting is for everyone. So if you’re running a polling station, just stay cool and make it happen.”

It looks like the European Parliament has a much better idea where to reach their target audience and what to do with them, than some of the largest brands in the world. Maybe they are not that unwieldy as we might think …