NBC News and MSNBC Launch Election Campaign to Encourage Registration

NBC News Group wants its viewers to vote, and in an unusual twist for a news network, it will help them figure out how to do it.

The NBCUniversal division, which includes NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC, is launching a PSA campaign featuring several of its top anchors that will direct viewers to local resources where they can learn how to register to vote in their state.

“I think we were inspired a little bit by the Olympics and the response that we saw around the country to the recent Olympics in Paris, and the attention that it got, and the popularity of the Olympic team and the athletes, and they really saw this renewed sense of patriotism that came from that,” said Tom Clendenin, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of marketing for NBC News Group. The Hollywood Reporter“I really wanted to build on that principle and celebrate what it means to be an American. And I think one of the most fundamental parts of that principle is our right to vote.”

NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC and streaming service NBC News Now will each have their own versions of the spots, featuring anchors and hosts from each network.

Presenters and hosts appearing in the spots include Lester Holt, Kristin Welker, Steve Kornacki, Rachel Maddow, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, Jen Psaki, Alex Wagner, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Jim Cramer, Carl Quintanilla, Savannah Sellers and Tom Llamas.

The spot presents voting as an American tradition, like baseball or apple pie. It ends with an NBC anchor placing a vote sticker. NBC says the campaign is nonpartisan.

“I think voters across the country are always excited to get a bumper sticker on Election Day, and it became a central part of our message,” Clendenin adds. “We thought, ‘Yeah, we should just have some bumper sticker skills, right? It’s not about what we say, it’s just about what we all do as citizens, and asking them to demonstrate it seemed like a smart, simple way to really drive home the idea of ​​something that I think we all look forward to on Election Day.”

You can see the NBC News version of the spot below:

The campaign is unusual for a news organization. While media companies have long used get-out-the-vote campaigns, it is less common for a news organization to launch its own campaign.

NBC News says that between linear TV, streaming and digital, it expects the campaign to receive hundreds of millions of impressions.

“We saw an opportunity, given the weight and the breadth and the reach of our assets, to do good work for the country, in the sense that we have many rights, and I think the most fundamental right is the right to vote, and advocating for that right seemed like the right thing to do,” Clendenin says. “And I think, given the way we reach our audience and the engagement we have with them, we’re uniquely positioned to get that message across.”