The aim was to broaden the reach and impact of the 2026 Race Unity Speech Awards beyond the live event, providing young people with a larger platform to express their views on race relations and enhancing engagement among students, schools, families, communities, and programme partners.
Our audience included senior secondary students, schools and teachers, parents and whānau, ethnic and regional communities, youth audiences, programme partners, and New Zealanders interested in race relations, inclusion, and social cohesion. The 2026 finalists represented 19 different ethnic backgrounds.
The strategy was designed around recognition as a distribution mechanism. Rather than treating social media as event promotion, we created content that participants’ networks could actively share: alumni endorsements, finalist announcements, school and regional recognition, speech videos, partner endorsements, and finals content.
The creative platform amplified the Awards’ creative theme, Listening to Understand / Whakarongo kia mārama, while keeping students’ voices at the centre.
The campaign successfully expanded a national youth event into a broader public platform. The final speech content garnered over 2.1 million views, with one speech exceeding 1.2 million views. We also saw more than 44,000 shares and saves as the campaign grew through schools, families, communities, and partner networks. This increased exposure led to a notable rise in traditional media coverage and political recognition. The winners visited Wellington on 30 June to share key messages from the national Race Unity hui with senior officials, Ministers, and Members of Parliament.
