Conservative press officer wins plaudits for election campaign PR stunt

 
 

3 article comments.

A newly-recruited Conservative Party press officer has been lauded by Tory comms chiefs for dreaming up an innovative PR stunt as this year's election campaigning got underway.

Millbank Tower: Home of Conservative Party HQ
Millbank Tower: Home of Conservative Party HQ

James Drewer came up with the idea of sending two teams along to Trafalgar Square to hold up ‘Vote For Change' placards yesterday - as Gordon Brown made his way to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve parliament.

A senior Tory source said: ‘At very short notice, we assembled a team of volunteers with large letters saying Vote For Change pointed skywards as Brown drove down the Mall. You could see them very clear from the Sky helicopter.

'At CCHQ we were watching the live footage, there was a huge cheer when our slogan came up on the screen.'

Drewer began working at the party's Millbank HQ in February, having previously been an account director at the Bell Pottinger Group. Before Bell Pottinger, he worked as a government relations consultant at the Royal College of Nursing.

With only a handful of Tory press officers likely to land jobs in Downing Street should the Tories win the election, and the press team at CCHQ expected to be cut, Drewer's wheeze could stand him in good stead for the future.

The senior Tory claimed: ‘The one thing a PM can usually rely on is his trip to the Palace going without a hitch, but thanks to one of our press officers his day was comprehensively spoiled.'

 
X

You must log in to use Clip & Save

 
 

All Comments

 

Alastair MacDonald - 07 April 2010

Hopefully this clever piece of comms has punctured the over-inflated bubble of hype suggesting that social media will be the key medium at this election.

Its airing on TV will have achieved more impact than any number of fan pages on Facebook or any number of tweets are likely to.

 
 

Jon Meakin - 07 April 2010

Hardly ground-breaking stuff. If this is the level of 'creativity' at Tory HQ I don't think Alastair Campbell et al will be losing any sleep.

 
 

Neil Henderson - 07 April 2010

A triumph for freedom and democracy.

After 13 years of Labour rule I am sure James will have another 5 years to think up ideas for when Gordon Brown goes back up the Mall on May 7th.

 
 

Comments

 
 

To post comments please log in here

 
 

Jobs

 
 
 

PRWeek Agency Showcase

 

Bulletins

You can sign up for our bulletins. Select bulletins you are interested in, enter your email adress an click the button below

Preview
Preview
Preview
 

Poll

Is it OK for journalists/bloggers to name and shame persistent PR professionals?

 

View Results