Colouring ‘IN’ – when Boris got Trumped

So you might have seen this popping up on your newsfeed, your TV, your newspaper and, well, everywhere (if not, it’s time to re-think the whole ‘living under a rock’ thing).

Painted by the Bristol artists Paintsmiths, this “thing of horrifying beauty” (quoth Alex Lyons), was the outcome of a Kin&Co and We Are Europe campaign to get people voting ‘IN’ on June 23rd.

Like all the best ideas, the ‘Kiss of Death’ was brewed up over coffee. It was a classic ‘If we could do anything, what would we do?’ moment. Capturing Boris Johnson and Donald Trump mid-snog, Berlin-wall stylee, was surely going to convince young voters to stay ‘IN’? No-one wants that ‘special relationship’ to become a reality!

Well, dear reader, convince the greater public it did. The mural engaged countless journalists, gaining coverage in 6 continents and sparking 120 online pieces of content including CNN, AOL, Washington Post, Reuters, Telegraph, Mirror, Guardian and Mashable. It is estimated that 500-600 million people viewed the mural across these outlets. On social, too, the mural went viral, being shared over 500,000 times and with a whopping engagement rate of 7.4%. Perhaps most notably of all (to Harry Potter fans at least) we were re-tweeted by JK Rowling – Dumbledore is SO ‘IN’. Not bad results for an £800 budget and one week timescale.

To date, the ‘We Are Europe’ creative ball is very much still rolling. Check out our Boris vs. beaches and puppy-power videos. With only 12 days left ’til polling day there’s lots more in the pipeline too. Follow We Are Europe to be ‘IN’ on the action …

Isobel Talks