2026 council elections marketing campaign

The campaign aims to increase community awareness, encourage candidate nominations, and boost enrolment and voting numbers.

Who this is for

All South Australian councils preparing for the 2026 elections and seeking to increase local participation.

What’s being delivered

• A fresh, research-informed advertising campaign promoting nominations, enrolments and voting.
• High-quality marketing and communications materials for council use (in multiple formats and languages).
• A council campaign kit including digital and physical assets.
• Targeted messaging to support diverse nominations and reach younger voters.

About the project

This campaign will align with Electoral Commission SA activities and provide centralised, high-quality marketing materials for the 2026 council elections.

The campaign aims to reduce duplication, save time and costs, and maximise community engagement.

The project will:

• deliver a comprehensive campaign strategy covering nominations, enrolments and voting
• encourage nominations from diverse community members
• raise public awareness about the role of local government and the value of participation
• strengthen voter engagement and understanding of council elections
• provide councils with consistent messages and materials for local activation.

This marketing campaign will deliver a unified and impactful statewide approach.

Project progress, January 2026

The project is progressing in line with key milestones, with strong collaboration across the sector. LGA has been working closely with the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA) to plan and deliver key elements of the council elections campaign.

Following a competitive request for quotation process, Showpony was appointed as the creative agency. Several rounds of creative development and refinement have since been completed, incorporating feedback from ECSA, council communications staff, focus groups and external communications experts. South Australian councils have been actively involved throughout the process, including engagement at the LGCN Conference and through targeted emails and polls, where council communications staff reviewed shortlisted concepts and voted on their preferred option.

Wavemaker has been engaged to develop the media plan for the nominations phase of the campaign. This plan has now been approved by LGA, with paid advertising to commence in late March 2026.

Procurement for the printing of physical campaign assets is complete. These materials will be distributed to councils across SA, to promote the campaign in their local area. Delivery of assets to councils is scheduled for February 2026.

Partnerships

LGA is delivering this campaign in partnership with:

• Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA)
• Local Government Communications Network (LGCN)
• advertising agency partners.

Project funding

This project is funded through the Local Government Research and Development Scheme.

This scheme allocates funding to projects that support the development of SA local government. Successful applicants are decided through an annual grant round.

Find out more

If you have any questions about this project or the Research and Development Scheme, please contact:

Mathilde Thorsen
Senior Projects and Grants Coordinator
Email: mathilde.thorsen@lga.sa.gov.au