38% vote Yes on November 25, 2007: unexpectedly high support for the struggle for a better quality of life.

Starting Point

For years now people have had to put with the noise from aircraft using Zürich’s airport. Through a people’s initiative citizen’s organizations that had formed in the airport area sought to finally bring to the attention of political decision-makers in the Canton of Zürich the desire of the population for quiet at night and more commonsensical flight scheduling.
The initiative committee for the airport initiative (“Development Association for a Sensible Airport Policy”) wanted to work on a design for the No-vote campaign – including planning and implementation – through employment of an experienced partner. Kampagneforum offered them a comprehensive campaign-organization package

Objectives

The objective of the airport initiative campaign was to achieve as close as possible to 36 percent of the vote as achieved in July 2006. Such initiatives often struggle with the fact that during the course of an election campaign opponents can often fight back with considerable strength. Principals laid particular emphasis on a readiness to employ the potential already present in diverse citizens organizations.

Implementation

In the first phase Kampagneforum developed a comprehensive campaign plan. At the centre of this was active monitoring and influencing of the political processes involved during discussions regarding a counter-proposal in the Zürich Canton parliament. Hopes were high at the beginning of 2007 that an acceptable counter-proposal that would have led to a withdrawal of the initiative, from the fact that it soon became clear in the following months that a referendum would be held on the issue.
In the next phase an extensive campaign was put into action: setting up of databases, planning of multi-faceted media strategy, fund-raising strategies, preparation of media-attracting events – both centrally organized and with citizens’ organizations from the community. Parallel to this the thematic of a sleeping baby wearing protective ear-wear was developed as a positive and upbeat image with the slogan “9 full hours of sleep” and various ad campaigns set in motion.
So as to appeal also to the business community and to spread the message of the significance of permanent jobs at the airport as well as the growth potential attendant with such an airport initiative, the “Economic Committee for the Airport Initiative” was founded.
In the final phase, in addition to local community action and large-scale billboards, Bellina the Mule on his(her?) journeys through the Canton of Zürich was set up on centre stage at many of our events and activities.

Success

The campaign strategy of launching the “Economic Committee for the Airport Initiative” was, both strategically and in terms of media, a resounding success. The main campaign succeeded, through various supporting activities such for example as Bellina the Mule, who undertook a month-long tour through the Zürich Canton, in galvanizing people and spurring them to action. From this stemmed not only numerous media reports but it was also able to incorporate citizens’ organizations across the Canton into the campaign.
In particular the “baby logo” on posters, postcards, banners and stickers proved to have great resonance. Many people felt able to identify with this and gave us almost without exception lots of positive feedback. Although the vote was not able to be won, with 38% of the electorate in favour a surprisingly large amount of support for the concerns of the citizens’ groups was attained.
“13 months of collaboration is a long time” commented Stefan Wey, president of the initiative committee. “The Kampagneforum team was, throughout the whole period, completely committed to the cause. Anyone looking for a strategic perspective and effortful attitude from all team-members is looking in the right place.”