European Parliament’s new campaign documents real-life births to encourage Europe to vote

With just one month to go until the elections in the European Union, the European Parliament is launching a campaign in all member states to encourage people across the EU to vote. Vote for your children's sake.

& Co, the Copenhagen based agency behind the creative development, is a sub-contractor of European Broadcast Partners, with whom the European Parliament has a framework contract. The voice-over speaks about an increasingly uncertain world, as we watch families from all over Denmark hurry to the hospital to give birth. The footage is real, and emotional. We see the hard work, the push, the beaming smiles of the mothers and the father's tears of joy as the baby finally arrives. I liked that moment, it was very touching.

“We witness the nervous last hours of pregnancies, going into labor, and finally the actual birth of these children that will inherit our decisions in the upcoming elections. We see the love and hope that meets the newborns”, says Frédéric Planchon. “All the people who participated and let us into their lives at these crucial moments were absolutely fantastic. It’s been an honor and a privilege to make this film.”

The birth of the idea

But how do you go from being briefed on increasing voter engagement to documenting real-life births across Europe?

“The biggest act of hope and will to believe in a better future is putting a child into this world”, says Johan Køhler, Partner and Copywriter at & Co. “And this is not a political campaign. It’s not about who and what to vote for. It’s about why we vote and, in my mind, we vote because we have to deal with the challenges we face globally, unless we want to leave the coming generations worse off.”

“The parliament saw the potential in the idea from the very beginning. The ambition was to document reality, so we couldn’t promise what exact scenes we would bring home. That’s a brave decision, and Frédéric was stand-by, waiting for births to film over a period of 15 days to get the material just right”, says Rune Petersen, Partner and Art Director at & Co.

“We can’t think of anything more important than to unite Europe right now. It’s been a pleasure and a dream to work with the parliament”, says Trine Aagaard Eisinger, Partner & Client Service Director at & Co. “They have been brave and agile in their decision-making, and we are so immensely proud to have worked together on this campaign.”

500 million Europeans

The goal of the campaign is ambitious: reach 500 million Europeans. And that’s why distribution is such a big part of the creative idea.

“With a limited budget, and a target audience of 500 million people, we had to tailor a distribution strategy that combines TV, cinema, print, PR, social media and The European Parliament’s thousands of volunteers and partners, to create maximum engagement and awareness around the message”, says Emil Towity, media strategist at & Co.

“And both the distribution strategy and the campaign itself is essentially about making Europeans stand together.”

“Democracy should unite us. But in the heat of the battle, politics often divide us. We tend to forget all the things we agree on”, says Johan Køhler, Partner and Copywriter at & Co. “Once in a while, we need to rediscover that we share our human circumstances and a lot of our dreams for our own and our children’s future. Or as the voice-over in the film explains: “From the second, we come into this world, we’re in it together”.

CLIENT:

The European-Parliament

Name: Jaume Duch Guillot

Title: EP spokesman and DG COMM Media Director

CLIENT PARTNER:

European Broadcast Partners

CREATIVE AGENCY:
&Co. / NoA   (Copenhagen)

Creative Director: Thomas Hoffman

Art Director: Rune Petersen

Copywriter: Johan Køhler

Social Media Planner: Emil Towity/Morten Saxnæs

Account Manager: Eva Rabenhøj

Account Director: Trine Aagaard Eisinger

Strategic Planner: Lone Tvedergaard Bach / Aylin Kanpak

Agency Executive Producer: Anders Toustrup Darre

Agency Producer: Filippa Borg von Bülow

Agency Producer Assistant: Philip C. Sem Dambæk

Agency Editor (additional content): Søren Jespersgaard Albrechtsen

Agency Editor (mood film): Alexander Topsøe

Agency Post Producer: Sidsel Ihle Eliasen

PRODUCTION COMPANY:

New Land/Academy Films

Director: Frédéric Planchon

Executive Producer: Thor Brammer Jacobsen, New Land

Executive Producer: Simon Cooper, Academy Films

Producer: Julia Fetterman

Director of Photography: Melodie Preel

Focus Puller: Andrés Gomez

Production Manager: Gemma Priggen

POST PRODUCTION

Editor: Sam Rice-Edwards

Edit House: Assembly rooms

Colour grading: Jean Clément Soret @ MPC

VFX: The Mill

Music Title: “Familiar”

Composed and performed by Nils Frahm

By Permission of Manners McDade Music Publishing Ltd

Courtesy of Erased Tapes Records

Post-Producer: Katrine Juul, New Land

SERVICE PRODUCTION COMPANIES:

Hungary:

Company: Pioneer Productions

Producer: Dorka Klim

Denmark:

Company: New Land

Producer:  Arlette Walsøe

Producer: Katrine Juul Svendsgaard

Czech Republic:

Company: Unit Sofa

Producer: Eva Perez Lescay 

Greece:

Company: Green Olive Films

Producer: Maria Kopanou