CNN — Echo: Increasing political engagement among Gen Z

Problem
CNN, a 44-year-old global media giant reaching over 200 countries, has been experiencing a disconnect with Gen Z, who are less engaged and informed through traditional news formats.
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Solution
Leveraging the 2024 presidential elections, we adopted political literacy as our engagement strategy and introduced Echo—a new product segment under the CNN brand. Echo empowers youth to discover their political voice by interacting with quizes, multimodal news and participating in events that allow them to make a meaningful impact on the issues they care most about. This initiative aimed to increase engagement rates among the young audience by addressing their unique preferences and desire for in-depth information while fostering a deeper connection with CNN.

Impact Metrics
Our project was honored with the Community Recipient Award for social innovation and received a $10,000 prize. Eager to test Echo’s engagement strategy in
the real world, we launched sponsored ad. campaigns and in 3 days we received -

• 4x more engagement than an average ad. for 18 to 24-year-old demographics.
• 200+ website views.
• 3100+ views per ad.