Declare Yourself

Declare Yourself is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to empower and encourage every eligible 18-29 year-old in America to register and vote in local and national elections. Using the power of strategic media and retail partnerships, celebrity spokespeople, and most importantly, mobile and Internet technology, Declare Yourself's campaign blankets the landscape of popular culture, as well as universities and high schools, with a simple, clear message: REGISTER and VOTE!

Since 2004, Declare Yourself has registered almost 4 million young people via our on-line registration tool, on-location efforts and Ultimate College Bowl contest, contributing significantly to the unprecedented turnout of youth voters in the 2008 Presidential Election -- 24 million – a major increase from 2004.

Declare Yourself is expanding and intensifying its youth engagement activities in 2009. Between elections, Declare Yourself will focus on empowering young people as next-gen citizens, dedicated to national and local service, thoughtful activism, and shared civic expression. To accomplish our goals, we build partnerships with civic-minded philanthropic, marketing, and media organizations around the country. We are also affiliated with two related initiatives: RemixAmerica.org and BornAgainAmerican.org.

Here are just a few highlights from 2008:

• More than 2.2 million young people used our online registration tool or registered through our Ultimate College Bowl national contest
• More than 6 million people viewed our viral videos and public service announcements
• Our “Only You Can Silence Yourself” print, video and billboard campaign (featuring actress Jessica Alba) achieved more than 100 million impressions through publications such as People, Seventeen, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and US Weekly
• More than 5 million people received text reminders to their cellphones
• A month-long registration drive with the “Ellen DeGeneres Show” yielded thousands of registrations and raised national awareness

Major publications recognized Declare Yourself’s emergence as a youth-oriented brand. The New York Times called us a “different kind of cultural phenomenon” (8/14/08). The Los Angeles Times (10/31/08) noted: “… Declare Yourself may turn out to have been one of this historic election's decisive factors. Lear emphasized the importance of the youth vote when most political professionals considered that wasted time.” Brandweek wrote: 

“Another high-profile, celebrity-centered link-up encompassing politics, marketing and civic awareness was initiated by Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan voter-registration group founded by legendary TV producer Norman Lear. Its eye-catching campaign to encourage voter involvement roped in A-list young stars like America Ferrera, Zac Efron and Jessica Alba…” (9/22/08) 

For the 2008 Election, Declare Yourself enlisted an unprecedented group of partners:

MOBILE CONTENT
Declare Yourself worked with Cricket Wireless and other mobile content partners to engage new voters through the mobile devices they use daily. We have sent more than five million targeted text messages to remind 18-29 year olds to register.

INTERNET
Declare Yourself’s campaigns leveraged the enormous reach of Yahoo!, MySpace, thinkMTV, Google, AOL and Good Search. Our 60 +viral videos, featuring stars such as Leo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Rosario Dawson, Wilmer Valderama, Ed Helms, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin in “Superbad”) among many others, are fully distributed across the Internet and have generated millions of views on-line (and hundreds of thousands of resulting registrations).

TRADITIONAL MEDIA
Media company partners enlisted to drive young people to our on-line voter registration tool through PSAs and show placements included: Fox, MTV, Clear Channel, Comedy Central, Spike TV, Lifetime TV, FoxSports, Cosmo Girl, GOOD Magazine, and Seventeen Magazine.

RETAIL
Retail partnerships were in place with Starbucks, American Eagle Outfitters, the Gap, Harper Collins Book Publishers, W Hotels, Six Flags, Borders, and many others.

OUTREACH
Declare Yourself partnered with Voto Latino, the leading Hispanic voter registration organization, the NAACP, Student Public Interest Research Groups, Headcount, The Youngest Candidate, Why Tuesday?, and the Warped Tour, among many others.

ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY SUPPORT
Declare Yourself enlisted film actress Jessica Alba, ABC’s “Ugly Betty” America Ferrera and Hayden Panettiere from NBC’s “Heroes” as its chief spokespersons. Declare Yourself’s list of advisors and friends included actors Drew Barrymore, Tyra Banks, Adrian Grenier, Scarlett Johansson, Nick Cannon and Mandy Moore; sports figures Carlos Boozer, Freddy Adu, Brady Quinn and Stuart Scott, among many others.