Impact Stories

25 September 2026

Using Openion, aHang transformed a frequently asked question into a campaign that reached nearly two million people organically, generated over 60,000 active participants and converted almost half of them into subscribers – all without paid advertising.

When participation matters more than polling

In July 2026, aHang set out to answer a simple question:

Who should become Hungary’s next President of the Republic?

Rather than commissioning a traditional opinion poll, the organisation wanted to give people a genuine opportunity to participate in the conversation. The goal wasn’t simply to measure public opinion – it was to create it.

That required more than a survey tool.

People needed to be able to explore candidates, express nuanced opinions, suggest entirely new names and immediately see how the wider community responded. At the same time, the campaign had to support aHang’s broader mission by turning one-time participants into long-term supporters.

Openion became the platform powering the entire campaign.

A different kind of public consultation

Instead of asking participants to choose a single favourite candidate, Openion invited them to evaluate every potential nominee on a scale from –3 (strongly oppose) to +3 (strongly support).

This approach made it possible to measure not only popularity, but also broader public acceptance. Participants could also nominate additional candidates, allowing the consultation to grow organically as more people joined.

Over the course of the campaign, 511 people proposed new candidates, resulting in 641 unique nominees and more than 1.48 million individual candidate ratings. With more than 60,000 participants, the survey achieved not only exceptional reach but also remarkable depth of engagement: on average, each participant rated 25 different candidates.

The final report revealed not only who ranked highest, but also which candidates attracted support across different groups of participants – something a traditional poll simply cannot capture.

The result was a richer public conversation and a much deeper dataset than a standard “pick one candidate” survey.

Reaching people without advertising

The consultation ran between 19 July and 3 August 2026.

Promotion was intentionally simple: 12 Facebook posts and 2 email newsletters published through aHang’s existing channels.

No paid advertising was used.

Everything – from discovery to participation – was driven entirely through organic reach, community sharing, and aHang’s existing audience. Around 80% of the campaign’s reach came from Facebook, while the remaining 20% came through email.

Even in an environment where organisations increasingly rely on paid distribution to reach supporters, this campaign demonstrated that highly engaging participation experiences can still spread organically. 

Participants were invited to subscribe to receive the final results by email, turning their curiosity about the outcome into lasting engagement.

The results

In just 15 days, the campaign generated:

• 1,992,359 total organic campaign reach (Facebook reach and email opens combined)

• 60,019 participants

• 3.01% conversion from total campaign reach to participation

• 27,394 new subscribers

• 45.64% participant-to-subscriber conversion

For many organisations, the most impressive number isn’t the reach or even the participation.

It’s the subscription rate.

Nearly one in every two participants decided to continue their relationship with aHang after taking part in the consultation, transforming a one-time interaction into an ongoing connection with the organisation.

For advocacy organisations and NGOs, this is often the difference between running a successful campaign and building a lasting community.

Why it worked

The campaign succeeded because it combined three elements that rarely exist together.

First, the topic mattered. Choosing the country’s next president invited people into a conversation that felt relevant and consequential.

Second, participation felt meaningful. Instead of answering a short questionnaire, people could express nuanced opinions, propose new candidates and immediately compare their views with thousands of others.

Finally, the campaign created value for both sides. Participants felt their voices mattered, while aHang gained not only high-quality public insight but also tens of thousands of new relationships that could continue beyond the campaign itself.

Openion wasn’t simply collecting responses – it was facilitating participation.

What this demonstrates

This project illustrates what Openion is designed to do.

It’s not just a survey platform, and it’s not just a voting tool.

Openion helps organisations turn public participation into measurable outcomes – whether that means community engagement, supporter growth, public consultation or research.

For NGOs, advocacy groups, media organisations, membership associations and public institutions, it provides a single platform where people can contribute, organisations can learn, and both sides leave with something more valuable than a completed questionnaire.