ABOUT SEIU
Working for a Just Society where all workers are valued and all people are respected
- Service Employees International Union is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare, including hospital, home care and nursing home workers; public services; and property services
- Among its ongoing initiatives is advocating for immigrant rights, urging Congress to protect immigrant families from deportation.
Project overview
Client: SEIU
Project: Global Café Voices on Immigrant Justice
Type: Grassroots video advocacy
Summary: SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, initiated a project to collect video testimonials from their members using Vloggi’s video survey platform. At a convention, SEIU deployed iPad kiosks equipped with Vloggi’s multilingual survey, enabling members to respond in their preferred language among the ten most common languages spoken by US service workers, including Spanish, French and Chinese.
At a glance
10
languages
4 simple
question prompts
250+ reported
video responses in 2 days
Context
Discover how the SEIU leveraged grassroots supporter video submissions to advocate for immigrant justice, showcasing diverse voices through multilingual video surveys
Video advocacy highlights the effectiveness of multilingual video surveys in empowering marginalized voices and shaping impactful advocacy campaigns.
GRASSROOTS SUPPORTER VIDEOS
Using the voice of its members in multilingual video surveys
- In today’s advocacy landscape, video has become an indispensable tool for member organizations like unions or trade bodies. Unlike traditional written petitions or statements, videos capture the authentic emotions, stories, and faces of real people affected by the issues at hand.
- This authenticity not only resonates deeply with decision-makers but also engages the broader public in a compelling manner.
- A video can convey in seconds what might take pages to describe, making it a potent vehicle for advocacy campaigns. Whether used as a video petition, to pledge support, or to share personal experiences, member-generated videos humanize issues and amplify the urgency for action.
The challenge
How To Effectively Gather Videos from Grassroots Supporters in Languages other than English
With nearly 2 million members across diverse sectors, SEIU possessed a wealth of potential video footage crucial for fueling its advocacy campaigns.
However, the challenge lay in efficiently gathering these videos from a widely dispersed and linguistically diverse membership base.
Many members, particularly those from immigrant backgrounds, faced language barriers and needed a platform that would make them feel comfortable sharing their stories in their preferred language.
Additionally, ensuring privacy and maintaining control over the video content were paramount, requiring a solution outside of public social media platforms
Wider context
Why Grassroots Supporter Videos Should be part of your advocacy efforts
Video advocacy stands out in influencing decision-makers because it puts real people’s voices and faces directly in front of policymakers. This direct emotional appeal is crucial in garnering empathy and understanding, pushing legislators towards meaningful action on pertinent issues affecting communities.
Enter Vloggi – the game-changer in video advocacy. Our platform makes it easy to collect and categorize member videos alongside permission records for use in your advocacy.
READ MORE ABOUT VIDEO ADVOCACYThe solution
Multilingual Video Surveys deployed on iPad kiosks
SEIU partnered with Vloggi to develop a comprehensive solution to overcome these challenges. Together, they crafted a video survey centered on the topic of immigrant justice, incorporating four simple questions that resonated with SEIU’s advocacy goals. The survey was translated into the ten most common languages spoken by service workers in the US and Canada, ensuring accessibility and inclusivity. At a convention, SEIU deployed iPads equipped with the Vloggi survey, facilitating member participation through an intuitive and user-friendly interface. SEIU staff actively engaged attendees, encouraging them to visit the video booth and record their responses on-site.
The workflow
Post-convention, SEIU extended the reach of the project by mailing out the same video survey to its members. This approach allowed members who couldn’t attend the convention to participate from the comfort of their homes or workplaces, further democratizing the advocacy process and ensuring a diverse array of voices were heard.
The result
Multilingual member responses collected in two days
The original campaign account reported more than 250 video submissions from members over two days.
Spanish emerged as the predominant language other than English, reflecting the significant representation of workers from Central and South America within SEIU’s membership. The videos captured not only personal narratives but also compelling testimonials that underscored the urgency of protecting immigrant families from deportation.
The project gave members a way to share their experiences in their preferred language, both at the convention and through remote participation.
Explore structured video surveys and consent tools, or book a demo to discuss multilingual video collection.
