How not to do political marketing

A couple of hilarious things have occurred this week that illustrates that Labour’s grasp of marketing is about as bad as its grasp of running the country. This is nothing to do with the 50-plus and is all to do with the UK. A real Sunday morning type blog posting, something of a rant.

So far Gordos performance on YouTube, answering the questions, posed by Saga, about the concerns of the 50-plus, hasn't exactly been drawing in a flood of viewers. A grand total of 365 views to be exact. Subtract the 100+ or so that will have come from Brown’s PR contingent, Saga and his civil servants then you end up with a couple of hundred.

I just cannot listen to the guy. But that’s a personal thing. I think it is safe to say that Gordon has not gone ‘viral’. So much for the power of social media affecting the voting decisions of the 50-plus or any other age come to that.I expect that this of posting of Brown’s video will probably double the number of viewers. Good grief what am I doing?

In the same week as the video, Labour released its advertising intended to hammer the Tories. Being an inclusive bunch of guys they held a competition that was won by one of the million+ media studies graduates that we have in the UK.

Unfortunately, this character missed out on the lectures to do with advertising. The result is an ad that draws a comparison between David Cameron with Gene Hunt, the star of the TV series, Ashes to Ashes, that is set in the 1980s.

The only problem with the choice of character is that most people think he is just the right sort of guy that is needed to sort our the low-life that infects the streets and his politically incorrect style plays well to great sways of the voters. Not only this, but Labour launched the campaign in Basildon, where Essex man rules and used Tweedledum and Tweedledee - better known as Miliband Brothers,  two of the geekist members of the Labour party. Failure compounded by failure. Amazing.

Somehow I think this campaign will disappear into the sunset just like the attempt to bring Tony “so what is wrong with being orange” Blair back into UK politics.

I promise not to write too many of these parochial type postings. Honest. Dick Stroud