BRANDING YOUR PROTEST: HEADLINE AND CAUSES

When you name your protest and list its causes it is important to be as inclusive and diplomatic as possible. You don’t want it to sound immature or undemocratic in any way. For example naming the protest “Down with the government” and listing causes such as “We will demand immediate shut down of current government and want to force its officials to step out of their offices because of xy” – will sounds immature to many people. Perhaps your government really did or is doing something by which it deserves to be impeached however we all have different ideas about HOW that should be achieved.

Many people who would originally support the idea of protest and would be happy to join your protest because they feel similar dissatisfaction about what the current government is doing might be discouraged to attend because they probably have some of the following ideas in their minds about your branding:

  1. it is very unlikely (although not impossible) to shut down the government with one single protest
  2. Protest should serve as a warning and for displaying dissatisfaction – if we don’t achieve anything with it we will use democratic elections to collectively decide who we want to run our government next
  3. Protest organizers are immature, naive and overoptimistic by using such headline and causes – they will probably attract a lot of lunatics so I don’t wanna be a part of that

If you are diplomatic and inclusive with your headline and cause you will have far better response and attendance rate. In the end, no matter what you are protesting for or against people will join you with their own personal micro causes because they want to use the opportunity of public gathering to raise awareness about different issues. And that is perfectly fine since you want as many people to attend as possible.

MAKE SURE YOUR SPEAKERS CAN BE HEARD WIDELY

As simple as it sounds many times this is not the case on protests organized by amateurs. Sound magnifiers and speakers for microphones have to be very loud in order to surpass the noise of public chatter and surrounding traffic. You are much better of with louder than necessary approach – people can always back away from speakers especially if your protest attendance rate is way higher than you expected. In addition, if your speakers are heard from distant streets and buildings around the city you might enjoy many positive spillover effects:

  • It will increase the overall perception of protest success among different actors
  • It will cause distant passengers to stop, listen and perhaps join the protest
  • Those citizens located nearby who want to attend but are unable to leave their office/home/building for whatever reason will have the opportunities to open their windows and participate from distance

And perhaps the most important thing is that you can use your speaker setup to play motivational songs loud and without distortion (there is no worse thing than when you hear a song you like with distorted sound). Songs will boost motivation among protesters and keep them around longer. Just be sure to wisely plan your playlist and include feel-good and rebellious songs.

INCLUDE MARCHING AND MOVE PROTEST AROUND DIFFERENT LOCATIONS

There is just something about people all walking together as a part of the same cause. When we move around all at once united by similar principles there is a better chance to invoke the feeling that something was done. There are many ways how marching will help you with successful outcome:

  • Announce publicly where the protesters will meet and to which points they will march together – it is important to know the plan in advance because different people will expect you and perhaps join you on different locations
  • People will stick around longer so the protest will last longer if you move them round – standing on the same place is boring and feels unproductive after a while
  • The motion causes people to mingle more, meat and connect with each other which further strengthens the bonds between fellow citizens
  • Collective marching increases the feeling of security and boosts confidence so protesters will automatically be louder, lift and wave their signs, whistle, sing, shout etc.
  • Appearance of the protest on different locations will drastically improve the image of its success from many perspectives: media, politicians, citizens who did not attend etc.
  • Bonus tip: have e few secret locations planned ahead – people love surprises and also like witness surprised police force as they have to reorganize, regroup and rush to secure the new location

In the end, walking outside is always healthy and has positive psychological effect so protesters will feel better afterwards which maintains positive aftereffect while improving overall public health.

All of these tips are simple small things to address which can drastically improve the outcome and reach of your protest. Be sure to include them in your planning and remember to be innovative and try new things which no one applied before because you never know what might turn out to be a new democratic winning factor.

Facebook Comments