SAY YES AUSTRALIA
On May 28, 2011, anyone supporting the carbon tax would have
been forgiven for thinking they were alone. One day later, it was
all Australia was talking about.
By creating the Say Yes campaign, we reframed the debate away
from being about a 'great big new tax' to being a battle between a
positive and a negative vision for Australia's future.
And by introducing Michael Caton, Cate Blanchett, John Hewson
and others into the campaign we gave it the Yes movement the
leaders it needed.
The result was the opening salvo of a polarised media battle
about the rights of celebrities to have a say in the conversation
and the reasons to stand up and offer support.
When the dust had settled News Ltd media had come out
overwhelmingly against our campaign, Fairfax and the 7pm Project
had reported it in the positive and over $10 million worth of media
had been generated. You could say it was the news for
two days after it launched.
All from a campaign created on an NGO sized budget and whose
media budget barely stretched beyond a handful of key regional
seats.