Pope, President or CEO
War in Ukraine, refugees fleeing the Democratic Republic of Congo, executions in Myanmar, millions of homes in India destroyed by floods, and surging inflation that threatens American job security—this is just a sampling of recent headlines.
Today, humanity faces more existential threats than ever before, leading many of us to feel scared about the kind of world our children could grow up in. We know the world needs change. But, who should lead that change?
The Halcyon Movement was curious, if given the choice, who do people believe is most influential toward ensuring a brighter future for humanity: Pope Francis, President Biden, or Elon Musk? Halcyon hired Longbeard to find out.
The Challenge
Persuading users to contemplate whose leadership humanity needs the most, vote for that leader, and share their reasoning for that vote by completing the poll.
The Outcome
In answer to the question, “Whose leadership do we need most today?”, Musk won by a landslide, receiving a whopping 81.79% of votes!
The Objective
To drive people to thoughtfully consider and vote on whose leadership (Francis, Biden, or Musk) is most vital toward ensuring a brighter future for humanity and then complete a poll providing further insights into their votes.
The Challenges
- Design. Designing an ad that would capture the interest of social media users while scrolling their feeds and prompt them to vote for a leader.
- Value Proposition. Crafting a value proposition that would make people care about voting on this campaign and convince them to share their opinions with Halcyon.
- Poll Questions. Determining 10 multiple-choice questions for a short poll that would effectively illuminate the reasoning behind users’ votes.
What the heck??? We had expected Elon to do well vs. Francis and Biden, but we did not expect a blow-out when the data came in.
Matthew H Sanders
CEO, Longbeard
The Insights
- Elon Musk. 81.79% of votes on this campaign went to Musk. 70.9% of people who voted for Musk strongly agreed that he has the courage to fight against corruption and special interests. Also, 72.3% of people who voted for Musk strongly agreed that he is a better person than the other two options. Musk’s popularity in this campaign seems to reveal a desire for a new kind of leader over those who hold conventional, institutionalized positions of authority like Biden and the Pope.
- Pope Francis. Surprisingly, the Pope received the lowest number of votes on this poll, securing only 7.26% of votes. In fact, of the people who voted for Francis, only 48.1% strongly agreed that he understands the problems in the world and is the best person to address them. This appears to demonstrate a lack of confidence in the Pope’s awareness of world issues outside of those which are immediately relevant to the Catholic Church.
- President Biden. President Biden received 10.95% of votes, putting him just a few percentage points above the Pope. 80% of people who voted for Biden strongly agreed that he takes his role seriously. Interestingly, this was the highest percentage of “strongly agree” answers to any of the poll questions across all three candidates. In fact, Biden received “strongly agree” responses above 54% for every question, whereas the Pope and Elon Musk both received “strongly agree” responses below 50% on more than one question. It’s possible that Biden performed decently on all questions thanks to the highly-respected nature of his office.
It would seem, after having reviewed the data, that people feel the future demands a person who has a proven track record of overcoming what are seemingly insurmountable challenges. Elon’s CV certainly stands apart from Francis and Biden in this respect.
Matthew H Sanders
CEO, Longbeard
The Outcome
- Elon Musk. 81.79% of people who voted on this campaign voted for Musk as the leader we need most today!
- Subscribers. 92.43% of people who participated in this campaign signed up for Halcyon’s email newsletter.
- Poll Responses. 76.85% of people who voted for a leader proceeded to complete the entire campaign poll, providing Halcyon with valuable insights into the reasoning behind their votes.
Awesome study. I can't believe 92.43% of people who participated in this campaign signed up for Halcyon’s email newsletter. Awesome job!
Phil Tirone
Director, The Halcyon Movement
