Comms chiefs predict first 'internet election' in the UK is the most read PR Week article

Comms chiefs predict first 'internet election' in the UK

David Singleton, PR Week UK, 13 January 2010, 06:00am

Political communications experts are cautiously predicting the UK's first 'internet election' as the main political parties step up their campaigning.

Original poster: Conservatives

PRWeek asked a number of senior figures in the public affairs industry whether the parties' campaigning tactics so far pointed towards the UK's first internet election.

Hanover MD Charles Lewington and Weber Shandwick public affairs chairman Jon McLeod agreed that the internet would play a key role - but suggested that mainstream media remained the most effective way of talking to voters.

Portland associate partner George Pascoe-Watson was also cautious about overplaying the role of the web. He said: 'This will be Britain's first general election with a significant internet contribution for the media.'

The Conservative Party kicked off its general election drive last week with the launch of a £400,000 poster campaign and the publication of a draft health manifesto.

Also, the Tories used Google's 'Moderator' to initiate an online consultation on the draft health manifesto - attracting more than 40,000 visitors in the first four days.

But the Tories also faced flak on the web as Labour bloggers mocked up spoof versions of the Tory ad and a variety of alternative Tory ads began circulating in the political blogosphere. Spoof site mydavidcameron.com claimed to have had more than 9,000 visitors as PRWeek went to press.

For its part, the Labour Party has seen thousands of supporters visiting websites such as backtheban.com, which asks people to campaign to keep the ban on fox-hunting.

The party's new media campaigns spokesperson, Kerry McCarthy, said: 'New media campaigning will play a more important role than before at the coming election.

'We will be using online campaigning to engage with people on the issues about which they are passionate.'

Meanwhile, Fishburn Hedges director Simon Redfern said that for all three main political parties 'the real value of online engagement would be in raising cash for web-savvy candidates'.

Liberal Democrat CEO Chris Fox agreed with Redfern. Fox said his party used a range of online tactics to promote this week's campaign launch by leader Nick Clegg, but also highlighted a new 'social network' set up by the party to enable supporters to become directly involved in campaigns.

TIMELINE

- 11 January: Nick Clegg hits out at rival parties' campaigning, citing 'airbrushed posters (and) meaningless slogans'.

- 6 January: A spoof of the Tory ad poster appears on John Prescott's GoFourth website - the first of many.

- 5 January: Labour launches election campaign outlining a '£34bn black hole' in Tory spending plans. David Blunkett warns the party is going into an election at a huge financial disadvantage.

- 3 January: Tories unveil a draft health manifesto and invite feedback on the web. Posters go up in 1,000 locations, and shadow cabinet ministers campaign in key marginals.

£8m - Current Labour Party national campaign budget*
£18m - Amount Tories expected to spend on national campaign*
£18m - Legal maximum spend for national campaigning**
£40k - Legal maximum spend for candidates at local level**

*According to media reports **According to the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000

All Comments

Paul Armstrong - 14 January 2010

Amen. Use the tools that are there and you will see shifts. Transparency is key. Mudslinging will not be tolerated. They have the ultimate case study to learn from \(Obama in case anyone is unclear). Anything less than stellar use is laziness and a travesty.

[Steps onto soapbox] People of Britain, demand transparency and make your voices heard. Ask the questions, demand answers. We vote them in, we vote them out. It's up to us.

Catherine von Altheer - 14 January 2010

Obama's facebooking was never going to be ignored and of this I am glad. What concerns me is the direction that it may all be taken in for our own election. I'm not so sure that it will result in the sort of transparency Mr Armstrong hopes for.

The likes of Stewart Pearson, sorry, I mean Steve Hilton, are the ones that have me worried \(see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6973289.ece for reference).

I'm all for two-way communications and transparency but I don't want the election campaigners to tarnish all PRs with an image of being faddy and desperate, all the time being led by flakey trends - we're only just getting over Campbell's "spin" damage. I sincerely hope they do it well and that the UK doesn't become the "how not to do it" case study.

Jonathan Sheppard - 14 January 2010

Yet at the last County Elections in Nottinghamshiire - where the biggest swing to the Tories was in the Bassetlaw constituency, the whole campaign was very much paper based. Why? Because in the UK we are still years away from the Internet being the most important factor in influencing voting.

If I was a candidate with limited budget and limited time the internet would be part of my communications channel - but it would not be a deciding factor as to whether I got elected.

Holding up the US as an example on raising money is also slightly misleading - as thankfully in this country you can still stand for election and actually win without having to spend nearly as much money\( as pointed out at the bottom of this article). There is also less of a tradition of donating to political parties.

Stuart Bruce - 17 January 2010

Most people miss the point of Obama's use of the internet to campaign. It was all about activating real world actions - getting more people on the doorsteps and the phones. The micro-fundraising on the internet was used to pay for traditional TV advertising spots. The internet will have an impact on the UK election and already is, but it won't be in the ways that many disconnected commentators are predicting.

GEORGE HUTCHINSON - 21 January 2010

Digital is not new in politics. Who remembers John Prescott's battle bus blog or Sandra Howard's diary from the 2005 campaign? But what's different this time is its reach and influence.

In the period between 2005 and 2010, the UK blogosphere has mushroomed to the extent that many of the most talked about political commentators are now bloggers and many of the major campaign developments in the forthcoming election will hit first online.

This new media revolution provides a challenge and an opportunity for political parties. The opportunity, as with Obama's insurgency campaign, to mobilise and empower a wider group of the electorate to get involved. The challenge, however, to break out of the old mode of politics which sees the internet as just another shop window to sell their message rather than a game-changing medium which fundamentally transforms the nature of the debate.

So far no party has really seized the opportunity. The Conservative bloggers have been more prominent to date but with a Labour government behind in the polls they maybe have more to shout about.

And some parties have fallen foul of the pitfalls. The openness of the internet means it is difficult to manipulate and perilous to try, as some party candidates have found out to their cost.

In politics just as with the business world the digital sphere is changing how we need to think about communications. Today we shop, learn, share news, watch TV and catch up with our mates online. Simply overlaying onto digital an approach based on the communications principles of the past will not work and can be counter-productive.

Used correctly it should provide a fantastic means to interact with your customers, enabling their needs to shape your business priorities so you are better placed to fulfil their expectations. Used wrongly it reinforces the perceptions of a business that's not listening or out of touch.

And so too in politics. It's unlikely the internet will be the difference between winning and losing for any party in 2010 but that is to miss the point. For what's at stake is not just who's got the best shop window for their political wares but who can engage the public in a way that meets their hopes and aspirations for the future.

And the digital space is critical to achieve this.