Mayoral Campaign Case Study: Glyn Lewers’ 2022 Win

Glyn Lewers’ successful QLDC mayoral campaign

The Challenge

Campaigning to become the next mayor of the Queenstown Lakes District was going to be a challenge for any candidate, with strong competition, limited media coverage and voter apathy at an all-time high. To achieve cut-through across a wide range of ages and audiences (not just the few hundred who attend the Town Hall debates), a fully integrated campaign was required.

Our Approach

To complement the already-scheduled public meetings, Scope Media planned and delivered a tight, clean campaign that centred on Owned, Earned, Shared and Paid media during the 2022 local government elections. Glyn’s campaign was won by sticking to a simple but effective strategy: Timing is everything; Understanding our audiences; Highlighting Glyn’s USPs; and content that appeals to the voter. All delivered on a low budget that met the legal requirements of election spending.

Results

• Earned Media: 100% pick up rate for media release, including interview on RNZ’s Morning Report, page 1 pointer and page 3 lead in Mountain Scene, page lead in Wānaka Sun and coverage in other local media.
• A purpose-built website (thanks to our friends at Swordfox) with a dedicated content hub
  • 2500 users between 1 August – 8 October, 2022
  • 838 link clicks through to website from social media posts
• Social media (Paid was managed by Scope Media):
  • Posts reached nearly 35k people, engaged with 17.7k of them, attracted hundreds of comments and gained 300 new followers during the campaign. Engagement was high at 37.5%, on par with QLDC voter turnout.
  • 4022 minutes of video content viewed on social media
  • Paid: $1795 spent; Total reach 75,359, 194,569 impressions, 9800 clicks, CTR 5.12%.