The Advertising Campaign
The Commission decided to focus its advertising on explaining a number of key aspects of the Treaty. These included the changes to the EU institutions, the change in the EU’s Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) system, and the impact of the Treaty - if any - on issues of public concern such as military neutrality, abortion, and workers’ rights. It settled on three different sets of issues and decided that these three different messages should inform the text of television, radio and print advertising.
The campaign ran across all media, with the television advertising seen as “leading” the campaign. The television advertising was based on a concept in which ordinary people in everyday situations (at work, at home, socialising, etc.) were seen recounting to themselves facts that they knew about the Lisbon Treaty. As well as imparting the actual information, the concept also aimed to reinforce the idea that “ordinary” people are perfectly capable of understanding the key aspects of the Lisbon Treaty.
The print advertising also featured images of “ordinary” people together with text similar to that used in the television advertising. The radio advertising involved a number of executions in each of which a different individual gave some basic facts on the Treaty. The online advertising was simpler but also more interactive, with users being able to click through various ads, bringing up different texts. Finally, a small scale pub campaign was organised with small humorous posters with very simple messages placed in pubs targeted specifically at the younger age cohort.
As has been the practice in recent referendums, the Commission was allocated all “free-to-air” time by broadcasters in relation to the Referendum. This year the Commission chose to record two minute long free-to-air broadcasts for television, a time frame seen as quite long in broadcasting terms.
The broadcast featured a single actor delivering a script outlining the main changes in the Treaty. Focus group research conducted for the Commission after the campaign showed that some voters did find the length challenging, but that these were nevertheless the most memorable broadcasts of the entire campaign, including advertisements. For the radio free-to-air slots, the Commission decided the most effective option would be to use the extra time to get extra slots for its advertisements, rather than record a new script.
The Commission received excellent co-operation from all broadcasters in relation to the provision of free airtime at peak viewing and listening periods for these broadcasts.
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