A surprise awaits the five million French people who regularly use WeWard, the app that allows users to earn money by walking. When they turn on their phones on Sunday, March 15, a notification will remind them about the first round of the municipal elections. Then, in the app, the panda mascot will wave a blue-white-red flag with this advice: "For an active Sunday, put on your sneakers and go vote on foot." There is no partisan content or rewards. The operation, scheduled to repeat the following Sunday, aims solely at hammering home the election dates and encouraging people to vote.
Those familiar with Tinder have already experienced similar surprises. Starting in January, the dating app sent users playful reminders such as: "Avoid post-election heartbreak, don't forget your proxy vote." Other messages appeared on Leboncoin, BlaBlaCar, Lime, Bolt, and even the urban music channel Trace TV. The architect of this campaign to get out the vote? France's Government Information Service (SIG).
As for every election, this department under the prime minister's authority has launched a traditional campaign on the radio and the internet to encourage French citizens to vote. This year, the budget stood at €500,000. "But for several years, official messaging has struggled to get through," noted Michaël Nathan, director of SIG. "We need to reinvent communication formats."
