CIU Students Learn Media Secrets for a Successful Political Campaign

Cyprus International University hosted a public talk entitled “The Story of a Political Campaign” with Ali Tüzünkan, the Director of the media and public relations company Innovia Digital. The event was organized by the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, part of the CIU Faculty of Communication.

Tüzünkan’s company focuses on web-site design and development and digital communications. During the event he explained how an election campaign is run, the communications activities which political parties undertake, and the methods which they use while campaigning for votes.

Tüzünkan pointed to the example of the election campaign of Mehmet Harmancı, who was a candidate for Nicosia Mayor’s Office during the 2014 Northern Cypriot local elections. Having acted as a team member in Harmancı campaign, Tüzünkan explained that prior to the campaign the team had asked  the question, “what will it take to succeed?” before starting conducting  a survey. Explaining that the survey results had pointed to a Nicosia community seeking a sincere mayor who was skilled in solving financial crises, Tüzünkan said that the team then generated ideas that would meet that demand.

Indicating that they had very actively utilized the media during the election campaign, Ali Tüzünkan said that they had reached a large crowd of voters through the media in a short period of time, and that the number of voters thus reached had exponentially risen through creative ideas generated daily. Pointing out that the slogan “Harmancı without a doubt” had become very popular in the social media, Tüzünkan explained that this success had been in large part due to the efforts of the campaign crew, adding that the “without a doubt” slogan was communicated in every branch of media and had been a key to their popularity.

Explaining that the impetus obtained through another slogan “Speak up Nicosia”, Ali Tüzünkan said that they had encouraged the public to ask questions, establishing one-on-one communication. Touching on the two campaign trailers with the titles of “I love you Nicosia” and “So long as we embrace all colors”, Tüzünkan said that the films had provided voters with an opportunity to get to know Harmancı in person.

Speaking on how the campaign office was made into an enticing environment for the volunteering members of the campaign crew whereby they could participate regardless of their gender, and express their opinions without being judged, Ali Tüzünkan underlined that they had never taken recourse to smear campaigns.

At the conclusion of his speech Ali Tüzünkan indicated that Mehmet Harmancı had won the position of Nicosia Mayor by obtaining 39% of the vote. Tüzünkan added that prior to their media campaign, support for Harmancı had polled at just 9%.

[Source]