Sunak partners with Instagram influencers to deliver economic message

The Conservatives have recently completed the best influencer marketing activation I’ve seen by a UK political party yet.

Last week Rishi Sunak did interviews with three social media creators, who each post about personal finance, and the videos have received at least 2.5 million views in total so far.

Timothy Paul, Abigail Foster and Beth Turbutt-Rogers were all invited to meet the Prime Minister at 10 Downing St. They discussed reductions in the rate of national insurance, increases in childcare benefits and the rise of the minimum wage. 

Sunak was allowed to explain his policy achievements on his terms, without being interrupted or attacked.  While the creators didn’t explicitly endorse Sunak, the feeling the viewer is left with is that the creators enjoyed the experience and have a favourable perception of the Prime Minister.  

If you compare this Instagram influencer experience with the one Sunak had with political journalist Harry Cole last week on The Sun’s new ‘Never mind the ballots’ online video show, you can imagine which one the Prime Minister will be keen to repeat.

With these three content partnerships, it doesn’t look like any money has changed hands as none of the creators have included #ad or any indication that it’s sponsored content.  The posts don’t appear on the Facebook Ad Library, which indicates that the views of these views are driven by organic reach.

The only thing Team Sunak have invested is time – researching relevant influencers, agreeing on the content partnership and conducting the interview itself.

In return, they’ve been able to deliver their message, on their terms, to a group of voters that would be hard to reach otherwise.  

As the people following these accounts have some affinity to the creators, it’s likely the message will be more persuasive than seeing a regular ad or a clip on a news bulletin.

Given that getting someone to watch more than 3 seconds of a video ad on social media is incredibly difficult and 46% of people in the UK say they avoid news “sometimes or often” (2023 Digital News Report), parties can’t rely on news coverage or classic paid ads to get their message across to all voters. 

Working with influencers, like Sunak has this week, can help fill gaps in reach and make a message feel more relevant and therefore persuasive.

I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more of this tactic as we get closer to the general election.