This is another standard (terrible) party political broadcast released recently. It’s wallpaper. There’s literally nothing of interest to it. It had under 100 views in its’ first two days. That’s not even everyone who works for the SDLP. Why politicians think people will watch and engage with a broadcast when they chunter on for 5 minutes over stock-looking footage is beyond me. Have they not realised that at the click of a mouse or a touch of a button they could be watching almost anything else conceivable.
A pick of the best recent brand advertisments that use politicians in their communication. Not political advertising as such, more like advertising with politicians. First up, Ben and Jerry’s jump on the Obama brand bandwagon (thanks to Adam for this one):
Ben and Jerry's take on 'Yes we can'
On the day that George Bush left office, Veet (a hair removal product) placed this advertisment in the Metro to say goodbye:
Great copy and brilliant media planning.
Virgin Active try to lighten up Westminster:
It'll take more than a treadmill or two to lighten up Westminster
David Cameron and John McCain at Conservative Party Conference
A few Labour bloggers have cleverly seized on the inauguration of Obama to remind people of the fact that the Conservatives are politically and ideologically linked with the Republican Party in the USA. The clip below makes the point in quite an amusing way. People like to back a winner, so in political advertising it’s always important to give your candidate, party or cause an aura of progress and success whilst linking your opposition with failure, bankruptcy and breakdown.
The quality of this political advertisement (about the number of the Conservative Party front bench that have a second job) is so low that it barely warrented inclusion. But it brings up an interesting question around how the Labour Party is going to use it’s new web platform for social media engagement – Labourlist.
If the video was published by a random Labour supporter, the general response would be:
“Even though the quality is low, you can’t help but admire the passion of supporters who have the will and energy to put together these clips – it’s just such a shame they sometimes insist on going for those high notes!”
The difficulty is, is that it has been published by Labourlist.
Does this mean it’s an official piece of Labour Party political communication? If so, something has gone seriously wrong.
If not, it is exemplary of the problems of trying to blur the lines between ‘official’ and ‘grass roots’. You can’t have engagement, interaction and creativity at the same time as having party lines, moderation and hierarchy.
The most important question of all about this video is: will it pip D-REAM ‘Things can only get better’ for the disco anthem of Labour Students Conference 2009? About as much chance as this video has in convincing William Hague to stick to one job.
Alastair Campbell promotes his campaign for a 4th Labour term. It’s a slightly dry ‘talking heads’ video reminiscent of an old school party political broadcast. The style of the political advert jars with the content of the message which refers to the fact that ‘the way that people interact with politics is changing’. This clip still feels very broadcast and the website isn’t functioning yet. I can’t understand why you’d seed a video promoting a website that isn’t even live. Basic error.
The above video is tagged as a Labour Party political broadcast but is in fact a very aggressive tirade against many of the governments initiatives, including amongst others: the smoking ban, health warnings on cigarette packs, community support officers, various taxes and identity cards.
The emotion that pours out of this video is raw, unadulterated anger; the pure hatred that the producer of the video has for the government is conveyed emphatically. There’s nothing particularly shocking in terms of the pictures or the voice over, no agenda that hasn’t been expressed in mainstream politics. But when taken as a whole, it makes for seriously uncomfortable watching.
Just came across this amusing photo and video montage taking the piss out of the fact that recently George Osborne has been somewhat sidelined by Team Cameron in favour of William Hague.
This sort of quick turn around political advertising has really taken off in recent weeks, it’s very exciting that the daily election is now, genuinly, not only being contested in main stream media but also on web 2.0. I love all this material, but it has yet to reach and grab the attention of the vast majority of people. If web 2.0 is going to become the weapon that the political parties want it to be, the quality of the content needs to improve.
As can be seen with the above George Osborne attack (as well as webcabinet, if you want change, who are you kidding, going down hill and how many words) whilst there’s plenty of wit and intelligence on display, the level of executional excellence is very low. Hence, none of the videos have become truly viral.
Getting something out quickly is, obviously, very important. But as well as piss-taking rebuttle, the Labour Party need to insure there’s a steady stream of quality, positive material that people want to pass on to their friends and not just other people interested in politics. As we know, it’s the undecided swing-voters who decide elections. Undecided swing-voters won’t find these videos that needle away at the Tories very interesting, because they won’t get the jokes.
This video is pointing out that William Hague, since resigning as leader of his party, has made a load of cash. The clip is arguing that such a ‘part-time politician’ should not have been promoted to be the (effective) Deputy Leader of The Opposition.
The main problem with this line of attack is that people don’t mind that William Hague is a successful businessmen and after-dinner speaker.Most people’s major gripe with politicians is that they’ve never had a ‘proper job’ and they’re incredibly dull.The fact that Hague is very funny and successful is a plus point for The Conservatives in the eyes of the electorate.
On another note, why – as a Labour supporter – would you make a video which featured one of the leading members of the Conservative Party displaying his rhetorical confidence and charisma?
One of the reasons that William Hague failed as leader is that not many people knew how witty and engaging he can be (particularly in the House of Commons); trying to spread a video on the internet showing this (albeit with some irritating ‘cha chings’ over the top) is probably not the best way to go about increasing Labour’s support.
This is a witty (and rapid) response from a Labour Party supporter to the Conservative Party spot released earlier this week. The clip points out all the legislation that the Labour government has implemented since 1997 intended to benefit children which, according to the video, would not have happened under a Tory government.
It’s a shame there’s not a better endline. Considering the clip is referring to things that have happened (a while ago…) the line using the present tense ‘This is no time for amateurs’ doesn’t quite work. If it was referring to current or future initiatives it would have worked fine.
The aim of this spot is to bring home to people (an opinion on) the reality of the consequences of the government’s spending – past, present and future. The clip aims to pin the blame, clearly and simply on the Labour government.
The brief: get our message across as clearly as possible whilst making it entertaining enough for people to sit through it.
Let’s get this bit out of the way first, this is a slight rip-off The Girl Effect campaignin the use of text art and the soundtrack progression. But as they say, talent imitates and genius steals.
The copy is simply, powerfully and convincingly written. The way in which the text comes together to make images gives the clip heightened interest at the same time as further emphasising the points made in the wording. In short, this execution delivers on the brief perfectly.
The soundtrack is well chosen (again… VERY similar to ‘The Girl Effect…’). The point where the key adjusts to a more positive tone, whilst simultaneously the visual messages begin to focus around The Conservative’s message of ‘change’ amplifies the impression of their being a clear choice between the two parties.
The black and red colours at the start of spot have negative emotional connotations. When the message changes to talk about the Conservatives agenda, they change to light blue and white, which ignites sentiments of positivity and Britishness.
This spot is like nothing seen before in British moving picture political advertising and represents a substantial raising of the bar. Quite simply: fantastic.
