Labour is taking a back-to-basics spoof approach to its new year campaigning with a number of ‘Rishi’s raw deal’ attack ads appearing across vans, on shopfronts and online.
Although the UK general election is currently expected to be taking place in the autumn, political parties have come straight out of the gate as they look to make a strong start for the year.
The first move from the opposition party sees Labour focusing on the fact that recent National Insurance cuts have left many working people worse off, thanks to continued high taxes.
Created by the team at Lucky Generals, the attention-grabbing ad kicked off Labour’s election campaign with a bang, appearing on the Tory-supporting Conservative Home website within a matter of hours.
The campaign also included a number of OOH elements with the poster appearing on a shopfront and ad van across the Conservative-held seat of Wellingborough ahead of the area’s upcoming by-election.
It was also published online and in regional newspapers across the country.
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Labour’s move comes in the wake of The Conservative party’s expensive online marketing campaign which saw them spend up to £50,000 on Facebook ads over a one-week period.
The party – which is currently trailing far behind in the polls – has been focusing its attentions (and finances) on the ‘like my page’ Meta ad campaign promoting the prime minister.
Political ad tracking service WhoTargetsMe revealed that – even this early on in the campaign – the number of UK political ads on Meta are already seeing a sharp spike, running at six times the numbers seen in the summer.
It is not yet confirmed whether Lucky Generals will be working with Labour across the rest of its election campaign. There is also still no information on the Conservative or Liberal Democrats ad partners, although the former is typically linked with M&C Saatchi.
With agencies coming under increasing scrutiny for their client choices – see the recent controversies surrounding fossil fuel accounts – it will be interesting to see who is brave enough to take on a party which is performing so badly in the opinion polls.
