2.3 Slogans & hashtags

The second step of the narrative change campaign planning process – Build out the elements - consists of eight elements that guide you through the development of the campaign tools and approach. On this page, we focus on the third element – Slogans or Hashtags.

BUILD OUT THE ELEMENTS
Elements
  1. Messages
  2. Stories
  3. Slogans & Hashtags
  4. Evidence
  5. Visuals
  6. Messengers & Supporters
  7. Threshold forum/publication
  8. Action Plan

 While the elements in the table above are presented in a series, the reality of this step is that you need to iterate back and forth among the different tools through the campaign build out process. 


In the third element of the build out process, you are looking for the short punchy phrase that is engaging, attention grabbing and memorable, which in hashtag form have become a significant driver of online discussions. This involves one main approach and a generative process: 


Be inspired and playful in generating ‘sticky’ slogans and hashtags to support campaign messages.

As already mentioned, we live in a time when social media is a driver of public debates and we have entered the era of the ‘attention economy’ where “symbols prevail over substance”1 . While this is problematic for a movement that wants to bring complication and deeper understanding of the issues to the public, it is something we ignore at our peril. So, thinking in memes is a very useful direction in this build out process, i.e. that combination of a single image and short text that is very resonant and a driver of the debate. 

When thinking of slogans or hashtags in this way, the hope is that they will be ‘sticky’. Sticky means there is something unexpected and surprising in the slogan that makes it memorable and engaging. This very much follows our campaign principle of the need to balance resonance and dissonance in all elements. Beyond the stickiness, putting together a slogan or hashtag for a campaign requires you to: 

  • try to embody the personality of the campaign, e.g. pull at the heartstrings, drive the dissonance, activate the activism,
  • Keep it short and simple,
  • be playful with the language, 
  • try to be striking and engaging​2 .

 

Some well-known campaign slogans from politics, public awareness and even the commercial area achieve this balance well:

 

CASE 1: British Future – Campaign Slogans
 
1. #WeAreAllEngland
 
2. “Proudly British, Proudly Muslim”

In both cases (but especially the second), campaigners are putting things together that are not usually linked. They produce that surprise (maybe shock!) that drives engagement and is memorable. 

 

Of course, campaigners need to be careful not to get caught in the trap of shocking for the sake of shocking: your hashtags or slogans have to support campaign messages and follow the principles and ethics of your campaign.

In terms of process, the approach used in developing memes can be helpful, and entails looking at the main images you plan to use in the campaign and being playful in coming up with short phrases or lines you would put with each image. We encourage our Narrative Change Lab participants to keep this brainstorming process going over the duration of the campaign development, e.g. put the ideas on a shared whiteboard or google doc and keep working on them and revisit the ideas with input from all team members. That moment of inspiration can come at an unpredictable time, so it’s best to keep the creative process open for a good length of time! This can also be a fun process for campaigners and our Lab participants had fun using humour in slogans and hashtags, which is widely recognised a great device as a gateway to having a more serious discussion, if you get the level right!

 

PLANNING CHECKLIST
Step 2.3 Slogans or Hashtags
  • What short phrases or slogans go with the main images for your campaign? Consider how memes work in connecting text to images.
  • How can the use of these phrases add to building resonance and dissonance?
  • Is there a single hashtag you could use for the campaign? Or variations on one?
  • Have you got a process in place to collect slogan ideas from your team and a way to come to a decision?

 

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