Edge: People's Voice

78 per cent of the general public want to see change in the education system, but don’t have a way to have their voice heard by the big name politicians.

To ensure the people’s voice on practical and vocational learning was heard, we used content sourced through social media to create the first ever election broadcast generated completely by the public, with the aim of influencing the political party manifestos prior to the 2010 election.

5,078 voices from young people, teachers and parents were collected through online messages, social media, videos and events. All messages contributed to the first ever election broadcast generated completely by the public which was presented to the three main political parties.

Online advertising drove 600,000 views of a cut down version of the broadcast and the social media activity drove nearly 10,000 people to view the broadcast on YouTube in a few weeks. Traffic driven to the Edge website from all mediums was over 50,000 unique users. Twitter followers quadrupled (to 808) and Facebook fans nearly tripled (from 176 to 444). Online debates and supporting advertising stimulated the online discussion and secured 1,594 participants of the two live online debates. Over 600 pieces of supporting media coverage were secured, generating 450m opportunities to see.

160 opinion formers, attended the parliamentary launch of the broadcast to hear support for Edge's agenda from the three main political parties, including Ed Balls MP, Nick Gibb MP (now Conservative Minister of State for Schools) and David Laws MP, then Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.