ANVITA’s Communication Campaign for the Presidential Elections

France

May 18

Written By Sophie van Haasen

ANVITA (L’Association Nationale
des Villes et Territoires Accueillants)

Co-Chairs

Damien Carême and Jeanne Barseghian

Start of Project

03/17/2022

End of Project

04/08/2022

Website

Overview

On the occasion of the presidential elections, ANVITA is tackling the major preconceived ideas about migration through two actions. The first one, "Mayors committed to the reception of exiles", proposes to 5 ANVITA mayors to each share a major measure for the next five years. This series of videos opened with the Mayor of Poitiers, Léonore Moncond'huy, who answered the question: "Migration in France: is it a new phenomenon? It was then the turn of the Mayor of Grenoble, Éric Piolle, to answer the question: "If we welcome well, will migrants come? In turn, the Mayor of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer Rossignol, answered the question: "Is France capable of welcoming? The Mayor of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian, then discussed the question: "Can we talk about a migration crisis since 2015? For the fifth and last video, the Mayor of Fontenay-sous-Bois, Jean-Philippe Gautrais, answered the following question: "Should we welcome refugees rather than migrants? Each of them proposed a fact-checking, a local and national observation and a proposal of measure for a next government. This campaign took place in the context of the Ukrainian crisis, which resonated in each of the mayors' speeches. The other action "Let's fight against disinformation" proposes to react quickly to sentences of candidates or political parties spreading false information in the context of the presidential elections.

Expected Impact

The general public hears a different discourse about welcome and inclusion from French political figures (youtube statistics and social networks).
The general public has access to a fact-checking of the phrases heard in the context of the campaign (facebook and instagram statistics).
The presidential candidates are made aware of these elements.

Lessons Learned

The support of a communications agency was necessary to ensure that the messages promoted by ANVITA reached a wider audience than the usual circle of “followers.” The videos garnered an average of more than 10,000 views in just a few days—10 to 100 times more than our previous videos.
The positive and constructive tone of the mayors’ videos, as well as the scientific and factual content of the fact-checking inserts, were appreciated in the feedback. These formats avoided a “political divide” and did not generate any “negative buzz.”