An article on the PRWeek site reveals research that apparently ‘Election slogans failed to resonate with voters’ (in the recent race for a new Government in the UK).
And some of the opinions on why this may be seem to be about ‘cut-through’, ‘lack of funds’ and bad luck.
What noone seems to have pointed out is that the voting population of the UK are being bombarded with slogans via marketing and advertising almost every second of the day. (And as someone who works in digital marketing, I’m not blameless).
What did seem to catch on were some of the viral content – whether official or unofficial, and maybe that’s because it was the only part of the actual election that many people actually felt a direct involvement with?
Matthew McGregor summed it up on the Guardian’s Tech Weekly Podcast (He’s the London Director of Blue State Digital, who were behind the Obama election campaign in the U.S).
The big difference across the Atlantic was that the use of social networking and communication/engagement in the U.S was directed at empowering engaged supporters to go out and spread the word about Obama to everyone around them, especially those offline.
Whereas in the UK we had an election which was reported far more digitally than ever before, one which was commented on far more digitally than ever before, and one which is likely to have a bigger effect on the digital future of the country than ever before – but no noticeable change in the level of direct interaction and involvement in politics.
If you want cut-through and engagement, give me honesty and transparent, and then give me ways to interact, contribute, and feel like I’ve had some impact. Spin never cuts through, and passivity doesn’t get shared.