Political Contact gets Personal

Happy New Year and all that. I think it’s going to be tough one for everybody, but in this bi-centenary of Darwin’s birth it’s worth remembering that difficult times are what cause innovation, adaptation and change that can have long term consequences for the better. Granted, that’s not much comfort when your livelihood is at stake, but there is always opportunity for some in every circumstance. It’s clear in times of economic trouble looking after existing customers is absolutely key for any business – and that’s what we’re in business to do.

Looking at the predictions for the year, there’s already a buzz about a General Election. The political whys? and maybes are for another time (probably over a pint..) but contact with voters, campaigning and marketing will play a key role.

In the US elections last year, social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo played a huge role not just in the general election but in the primaries. The Labour Party have just launched a community site, LabourList.org to compete with ConservativeHome and LibDemVoice, and there is news of a “virtual phone bank” – effectively web-based access to home supporters of Labour’s canvassing databases to allow party supporters to make calls from home.

Nick Clegg, of course, already made the headlines with his automated calls, subsequently declared illegal by the Information Commissioner, and the Tories have been trying to get an upper hand in new media and web campaigning since the launch of WebCameron, the rather cheesily named Cameron video blog.

In the end the economy, the polls and his state of nerve will determine when Gordon Brown does eventually go to the country, but it will be fascinating to see how the political parties rise to the challenge of marketing to and contacting their potential voters.