Project Confidence: the industry initiative is now going into practice
Our society faces major challenges: there is a lack of optimism, positive shared experiences, and trust in institutions and politics. An initiative aims to change that—and is now moving on to the next phase with a contest.
The Project Confidence, an industry initiative involving media outlets, associations, and the advertising industry, aims to restore a sense of confidence in society—and is now moving forward with its implementation: More than 250 participants—primarily young people from politics, civil society, academia, the media, and the business sector—came together as part of the second phase of the “Zuversicht” project at the end of last year to explore the following questions: How can we strengthen political participation and trust in institutions? How can journalism help people regain a sense of self-efficacy? And how can companies promote social participation and confidence? The participants were supported by experienced coaches and experts. After three so-called “ideathons” filled with energy, pitches, ideas—some discarded, others implemented—and intensive work sessions, the finalists have been selected.
The finalists in detail:
Journalism & Media
1st place
Media Buddies: A matching format that connects citizens and journalists - for joint research, more perspectives and real dialog
2nd place
Überbrücke!: An intergenerational video format that aims to present the lives of older and younger people in a completely new way.
3rd place
Check Doo: A playful app along the lines of "Tinder meets Duolingo" that enables young people to recognize AI images and fake news.
Brands & Company
1st place
Zuvertising: The neologism combines "confidence" and the English word for advertising - "advertsing". The idea: retailers are persuaded to make five percent of the advertising space in their stores available for confidence and community content.
2nd place
Society Connect: Trainees from a real estate company are developing a virtual and physical platform that brings the residents of 160,000 apartments out of anonymity and connects them with each other, creating a sense of community and confidence.
3rd place
Responsibility is the concept for a platform that connects people in such a way that they can come together at specific locations for a wide variety of projects and make a difference together.
Politics & Parties
1st place
Reversed Politics: The stage belongs to the youth, the politicians listen: Reversed Politics turns the classic panel discussion on its head. In this project, pupils develop concrete ideas for improving their everyday lives in the districts through surveys and project days. Together with politicians, they then analyze how these local projects can actually be implemented.
2nd place
Social map: Who still knows their neighbors? Social Map poses the question of cohesion in the neighborhood and provides the answer at the same time. The platform breaks down filter bubbles, makes community togetherness in the immediate vicinity tangible and gives citizens the opportunity to document shortcomings in their living environment and report them directly to the administration.
3rd place
How EU is your city?: Europe is far away in Brussels? Not at all! "How EU is your city?" brings the European Union to life right on your doorstep. With creative campaigns and poster campaigns, the project shows what positive things the EU is doing in everyday life: from subsidized cultural cafés to modernized school canteens.
The program is accompanied by a creative contest. The industry association GWA and the media company Weischer are jointly calling on young creatives to design an accompanying campaign for the „Project Zuversicht.“ They are looking for campaign ideas that can rekindle young audiences’ enthusiasm for reliable news.
