Labour Party

The Final Countdown

The final stage of the general election is upon us. Really looking forward to see how the clash of advertising styles works out. The Labour party had been doing well with its under funded campaign being boosted with Internet japes. However it all came unstuck this week when its user generated poster back fired. The issue of using figures from popular culture is all very well, its just no one seems to have thought it through, that people actually like Gene Hunt and his 1980’s style of command, that’s why it’s a popular icon. How the Labour Part thought this was going to appose rather than attract(see comments) is bizarre. I do hope however that it does not put them off seeking crowd sourced creative. The theory is sound and keeps the campaign alive. A few more calm heads needed for the reality checks however.

 

Still looking for a better use of Facebook from the parties. There is so much that could be done with Facebook targeting, messages and friend groups. There is too much broadcasting at present and not enough under the skin cohesion. The other thing that’s missing at present is an app for campaigning. Either party could have an AR app that tells you how much has/hasn’t been spent on hospitals/police stations/schools as you walk past. Now the Ordnance Survey have open up their code, an easy mash-up of local authority spending on very pretty maps would appeal greatly. Philip Slade.

Neat debates currently rolling.

Two ongoing debates have caught my eye at present. The first relates to my last post below. The air brushed David Cameron. Not only is the web now awash with versions of it, but you can now download your own poster builder app HERE. Brand Republic have a good discussion on the subject HERE. Not least becasue the Labour Party appears to have adopted one of them as an official poster HERE - a really new move in UK politics.

Next, the Pepsi; Super Bowl Vs Social networks campaign. Some very good thoughts and ideas about measurement (or lack of it) HERE. Plus quite a few neat asides about brand building with fuzzy logic.

The President has a new web site

It was only a matter of time, But Presdient Obama has re-launched the Whitehouse.gov site. Obama's team dominated the whole sphere of social networks pre-polling day. Now he looks set to reinvent Government online. Watching David Cameron's Conservative.com playing catch-up is vaguely amusing, if it were not so sad seeing the Labour party blowing it (online and most other places).

I really really hope at the next UK election all parties allow the best of British digital planners and designers to actually do there jobs, but I do fear that all three of the main parties will pull a McCain - lip service web site, with a flat transitions to other digital channels. Good overview HERE from Jeremiah Owyang at Forrester research.