On June 4, 1989, in Poland, the democratic opposition appealed to citizens to vote with using the phrase: “Don’t sleep, or you will be outvoted”. That year, election results in Poland changed the course of European history.

The 2023 “Don't sleep or you will be outvoted” campaign was created to inform and educate the public about the elections, while at the same time, remaining neutral and not advocating for any specific political party.

Objectives:

The most important objective of the campaign was to break the election turnout record from 1989 which was 62.7%. Information about the electoral process was published in one place, to help voters make more informed decisions and to promote electoral education.

Next, the authors of the campaign set the goal of motivating and educating Gdańsk citizens who may feel powerless or mistakenly believe that their vote will not change anything. The goal was to eliminate the accessibility barrier by convincing all citizens, that their voice can help shape democracy in Poland.

The third objective was to address young people who were voting for the first time. The campaign aimed to inform young adults on the importance of the Poland’s democratic legacy. The authors wanted to educate young voters on the significance of exercising their democratic right to vote, a privilege their grandparents were deprived of in Poland for many years. 

The website https://www.niespij.pl was launched at the beginning of May 2023. The website is a source of key information related to the parliamentary elections. It has a historical outline, campaign description and a map where partner cities were pinned to visualise the campaign reach, and most importantly, a tab with customised promotional materials like social media cover photos, pins, posters, and stickers available for downloading. With the supervision of experts from the city hall, a Q&A section was prepared where citizens could obtain important electoral information regarding the voting process e.g. voting abroad, changing their voting place or lack of an ID before the vote. With the launch of the website, a dedicated e-mail address info@niespij.pl was made available, which served as a source of information for people interested in participating in the campaign and those who had questions regarding participation in the elections.

Events:

Giant alarm clock. An artistic installation was created for the campaign in the form of a mobile alarm clock measuring 3,2 meters high and 3 meters wide. Its purpose was to count down the time to the elections and wake people up. The alarm clock visited 9 Polish cities and covered a total of 3,028 km during its journey in the period leading up to election day. The artistic installation reminded residents about the election date and encouraged them to visit the website or take a picture and post it under the campaigns’ hashtag. It also inspired local leaders to have their own events.

Run to the polls. On 7th of October, 1,000 Gdańsk residents including experienced athletes, novice runners and city officials took part in the "Gdańsk runs to the polls!" race. Event participants received special "pro-election" t-shirts. The beach run took place over two distances: 3,3 and 6 km and in a humorous way it encouraged people to run from the beach directly to the polls on election day.

Writing letters and sending postcards. Traditional correspondence with information about the campaign was sent from Gdańsk to decision makers, local leaders, social authorities, and celebrities. Support for the campaign was voluntary. During the summer holidays, postcards were handed out in Gdańsk to tourists. The idea was to encourage them to send a postcard with summer greetings to family and friends, but with an inspiring motto.

"CAMPUS - Poland of the Future". The campaign coordinators were invited to be part of the Campus Poland event in Olsztyn. It is a unique event dedicated to young people actively participating in social and political life in Poland. Moreover, it creates a safe space for open discussions and exchange of experiences among the participants and was the ideal place to talk about democratic values with first-time voters.

Gdańsk Democracy Week. In 2023 Gdańsk hosted the 7th edition of Gdańsk Democracy Week with the motto “Don't sleep or you will be outvoted”. Democracy Week in Gdańsk is inspired by the UN International Democracy Day. It includes debates, meetings, and workshops for young people.

Gadgets Store. Due to demand and because of the unexpected interest, an online store was launched with promotional materials for purchase. The following campaign gadgets: t-shirts, hoodies, personalized coffee mugs, stickers, postcards, fake tattoos, water bottles and pins, were labelled with the iconic logo.

Media (social and traditional)

• The campaign had 335.000 interactions and over 100 celebrity users involved on social media. Media outreach was targeted at young adults and first-time voters. The aim behind creating an election social media campaign was that the more people that showed friends what values are important to them, the greater the power of the call to action.

• The “Don’t sleep or you will be outvoted” motto was visible on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter) and local government websites, without any major, paid advertising. The City of Gdańsk YouTube channel was the place to watch campaign videos. A street survey among Gdańsk residents was published as well as a shout-out video from a famous Polish actor, Mirosław Baka. In addition to posts on social media, election participation was also promoted in the traditional media. Six hours of radio jingles were played on the local radio stations and the local newspapers automatically wanted to cover the campaign with “the symbolic, giant alarm clock”.

• The campaign gained significant publicity thanks to partners like the Gdańsk Foundation. The foundation was in charge (among other things) of creating the alarm clock and coordinating crucial organisation efforts across Poland. The alarm clock was transported around Poland and became not only a summer attraction, but also a background for press conferences and events related to the elections, such as one held in Lublin.

• Using the slogan "Don't sleep or you will be outvoted", individual cities conducted pro-election sub-campaigns using modern methods of social activation.

• Katowice created an event in the city centre – a sketch about waking up in time for elections. The also used artivism, by creating a mural with the slogan in an underground passage.

• Rzeszów branded local monuments.

• The Gdańsk Foundation provided individual partners with promotional materials and substantive technical support. The tools package, shared on the website, was addressed to private individuals, other local governments, organisations and institutions. The materials available in open files were used by supporters of the campaign to implement their own events.

• For example, the city of Białystok created classic banners and organised meetings with first-time voters. Wrocław (among others) changed the background on the city Facebook profile. Individual citizens willingly downloaded materials for printing, like stickers for a car mirror or a poster to hang in the window.

The campaign was partly financed from City funds, from the budget for informational campaigns directed to the residents of Gdańsk. The other part was financed by the partner – the Gdańsk Foundation. Polish cities, organisations and private individuals joining the campaign, financed their activities themselves.

26.152,42 €   City funds
30.000,00 €   Gdańsk Foundation
56.152,42 €   TOTAL

• 81.5% election turnout in Gdańsk and 74.38 % in Poland
• 40.6 million impressions on the Internet and social media*
• 3,485 publications about the campaign under “#niespijbocieprzegłosuja” hashtag*
• 335,000 interactions on social media*
• 100 celebrities, influencers and public figures shared a supporting post
• 1,79 million € in AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent) *
• 25 cities across the country joined, by using Gdańsk good practices and tools
• 40,000 visits on the website niespij.pl*
• 5,000 downloads of promotional materials*
• 120 customized graphic files at the request of citizens and partners
• 1,000 participants during the “Gdańsk run to the polls” beach run
• 20,000 different gadgets with the campaign logo
• 1,985 views of the campaign videos on the City's YouTube channel
• 6 hours of radio advertising in local radio stations
• 84 letters sent to leaders, social activists, councillors and artists
• 200 pieces of branding in the public transport fleet and 100 city lights all over the city

*Information collected by the Institute of Media Monitoring in the period May 25th till October 20th, 2023.

While running the campaign, the biggest challenge was competing with citizens' other priorities, misinformation, young people’s indifference and senior citizens feeling powerless. The difficulty was to convince citizens that an individual vote mattered, despite political views. The reality of the 2020 election has increased frustration and problems in voters' lives. Social, health and economic crises have effectively distracted people from the elections. International, political, and social factors have strongly influenced the lack of trust in the political system. To overcome these difficulties, the campaign creators focused on reliable sources of information and delivered them on various communication channels, to combat misinformation. Artivism and a fun approach to this campaign had a positive impact on Gdańsk residents' lives and gave them a sense of power and hope.

“Don't sleep or you will be outvoted” mobilised Polish citizens to take part in elections not only in 1989 but also in 2023. This universal motto became an important symbol for the next generations of Poles and Gdańsk citizens. The strong point of the campaign was the creative use of the iconic “Solidaryca” font in a minimal design, with a powerful call to action. The campaign authors took a creative and innovative approach in promoting a historic slogan in a modern way by providing basic, free online materials for citizens own creative use. The mobilizing factor was the giant alarm clock that toured Poland. It became not only a fun tourist attraction to take a picture with, but it also had a metaphoric, mobilizing meaning – the Clock is ticking! Time is running out! Wake up! Citizens became not only campaign promoters, but most importantly, authors of their own democratic image.

This campaign was a great example of a partnership between local governments, civil society, the private sector and NGOs. The partnership was built on pro-democratic values, a shared vision, driven by a common goal. A model of good practice from Gdańsk became a regional and national model for civic campaigns, which aligned with strengthening the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development in the 17 Sustainability Development Goals.