How we shaped our Final Say campaign from the newsroom to the streets of London

Our push for a vote has also taken in social media – trending on Twitter with the hashtag #finalsay – and videos, a Reddit ‘ask me anything’ with ex-Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and an online petition, says Michael Owens

Media campaigns come in all shapes and sizes, from local efforts to save hospitals to pushing for changes to law (such as The Independent on Sunday’s call to legalise cannabis in the 1990s).

Broadly speaking, they all have two things in common: that editors think change is needed, and that they believe their publication can make a difference. That was certainly the case when, 88 days ago, The Independent launched the Final Say campaign for a referendum on the Brexit deal. “The people,” we wrote, “should have the opportunity to finish what they began.”

Today campaigns must go further than front pages and well-considered editorials (though of course, Final Say has had those as well). Our push for a vote has also taken in social media – trending on Twitter with the hashtag #finalsay – and videos, a Reddit “ask me anything” with ex-Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and, perhaps most notably, an online petition.

It’s been said that it is only as news campaigns start to tire that readers begin to notice them. That wasn’t the case with Final Say. Just over 24 hours after it began our petition had topped 200,000 signatures, prompting a front page on our Daily Edition app with the headline: “Are you listening, Ms May?”

And, it seems, she was. The prime minister felt it necessary to address the issue in her keynote speech at September’s Tory conference, while Labour politicians spent days working out how best to fudge their own response to the issue.

As momentum gathered, and The Independent joined forces with People’s Vote for a march on parliament, the campaign has been supported by MPs from all sides, while celebrities from Steve Coogan to Rod Stewart have called for another Brexit vote. Backing for Final Say has come from groups representing almost every line of work, including scientists, doctors and steelworkers.

On Saturday, as more than 500,000 took part in The Independent and People’s Vote March for the Future, the number of signatures on our petition neared a million. But, as our latest editorial points out, this isn’t the end of our campaign – it goes on until Britain has the Final Say.

Yours,

Michael Owens

Daily edition editor