Saturday, September 16, 2006

The Right Approach to Direct Marketing

I'm at News 24 looking through the papers. Here's one I won't be covering... There's a leaked Tory memo in The Observer saying that the Cameron brand is failing to set the Tory grassroots on fire. Here's an extract...

Steve Hilton uses the analogy of sexual prowess: 'You're at a party and seen an attractive person across the room. You go over and say, 'Hi, I'm fantastic in bed' - that's known as direct marketing... You're at a party and see an attractive person across the room, they walk over to you and say 'Hi, I hear you're fantastic in bed' - that's known as branding'. In other words, voters should hear about Cameron's virtues from people other than him.

Guess I'm not going to the right parties. Now, what was Douglas Smith's telephone number again?

The memo also reveals that constituency associations are failing to welcome new members. A 'cold calling' survey in which party workers emailed local constituencies pretending to be members of the public interested in joining, found that only a third even got a response after the first attempt.

If that's true it's a terrible reflection on local parties. It's not just CCHQ that needs to up its anti - it's local constituency associations too. Full Story HERE.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Up the ante (it's a poker term meaning to increase the buy-in price).

Anonymous said...

I would have thought the two answers to Hilton's questions would be 'you arrogant bastard' and 'are you calling me a slag'. I think I must be living in another world, as I never hear these questions being asked.

The local association story doesn't surprise me. The problem of course, is a fair few associations in labour held seats are effectively being held together by two or three people, in many cases retired. I do fear for many of these associations when the older generation start to die out.

Anonymous said...

Not responding to e mails - maybe this has more to do with resources and lack of professional staff in constituencies.

When I joined the party in London some 30 years ago, about 3/4 of Associations had offices and professional Agents. Now that figure must be less than 1/4 and don't forget there are about 20 less seats in London now.

Of course a cynic would say it depends where you e mail, to get than answer you want !

A friend of mine who got selected for a seat close to London was staggered with how run down his Association was. The office was manned occasionally by two elderly ladies who said that e mails were beyond them !

Benedict White said...

Well I was made to feel very welcome when I joined. If that is true then sone one needs a very hard slap.

Anonymous said...

Just watched the Newspaper review...

Was that a pair of jeans that spotted Iain?

X-D

Anonymous said...

By the way...

I looked into the Child Protestion in Sport Unit (CPSU) and it seems they are a partnership between the governments sport Englnad/Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland groups and the NSPCC.

What out you might have the NSPCC on yer back over those comments tonight...

The Hitch said...

Christ shine a light!
What will it take for you Davis ,Hague,Redwood ,Willets to turn your backs on this shower of shit and set up a new party?
The wanker(cameron) was on his knees to the Scots yesterday apologising for the Haggis famine or some such wickedness , what next an apology for the amritsar massacre?
he is pathetic and the Conservative party will never win an election whilst that bufoon is leader.

Prodicus said...

Decades ago, when I wanted to join the local association, I was literally turned away from the office by some old buffers who hadn't the slightest interest in admitting a young stranger to their private club. The Party kept my vote because I am a philosophically committed Tory.

(That was in a London constituency, subsequently lost to the Libdems. Now I live in a died-in-the-wool Conservative rural constituency.)

I left the party in 1997 feeling, for a number of reasons, that I had been let down and that the party was too shambolic to be worth much. I kept voting Tory.

I decided to rejoin the Party when Cameron popped up and starting imposing some order and injecting energy - things were starting to look good. Well, alive, anyway.

I applied online. I heard nothing from my local association, so eventually I emailed them. Nothing. Silence. So I emailed HQ and complained. No reply. Eventually, I got a letter from the local office apologising and sending the joining pack. That took three months.

I am, relatively speaking, an enthusiast, so I persisted. But would a waverer have stuck with it, or given up in disgust? I also wonder whether it would have been quicker if an election had been coming up. Not an encouraging history.

Tapestry said...

I thought the essence of direct marketing was to get the target to start asking you questions. If that didn't happen, then you should ask them questions, all of which are bound to be responded to with a yes.

The essence of branding is that no questions need to be asked. A successful brand is a single clearcut YES.

In the above scenario, your eyes meet. No words are needed. No need to spank monkey.

Anonymous said...

All fur coat and nae knickers...

wonkotsane said...

"It's not just CCHQ that needs to up its anti"

Lucky the typo still makes sense - the Tories definitely need to increase their opposition!

James Higham said...

I had the opposite situation to Prodicus. I was not only admitted but started to have administrative tasks allocated, of a menial nature of course - contacting this person, canvassing this and so on. Perhaps it's the luck of the draw, the time and the place.

Anonymous said...

From conversations I have had the general view of Dangerous Dave seems to be of an over active child who likes his bike,has little real life or business experience,has too much money and believes people like Hilton are the dogs...........!
Or to put it another way-he hasn't lost the plot-he just never had it in the first place.
Roll on the B'mouth X factor.

Vlad the Impala said...

During last campaign I offered to help (researcher, professional writer, IT skills etc), gave contact details and had zero follow up. Efforts subsequently also zero follow up. Having talked last night with a very disconsolate senior Scottish Tory, I was left wondering whether "knicker-less" quite comes close to describing the real situation, which would appear to be all fur coat and no brainpan. Direct marketing only works if you pay attention to the fundamentals. There's no point sending ballet shoes to a hoodie.

Anonymous said...

I agree that associations need a good shake-up. The only info I get from Cambridge is a newsletter twice a year, there is no other communication whatsover from them, no progress reports or updates at all. I wasn't even informed about David Willetts' visit to the city with his roadshow earlier this year, I found out about it on a blog, no wonder there were so many embarrassingly empty seats.

Associations should forge closer links. I can never understand why Norwich North and South don't share an office and staff, surely they both have a common aim.

I do believe there is a lot of pressure on regional officers who are increasingly given larger areas to cover and they can't cope, the one in my area always complains about her workload and becomes ill. The Party needs to be realistic about what people can do.

Regarding the branding, yes, the message is always more powerful if it comes from a third person, but that takes time and Cameron still has a long way to go to prove his consistency. And people are still waiting for his policies.

Just another thought, I met a Respect supporter yesterday and they have a stall in Cambridge every week to recruit support. They are a visible force and want to rival soft Labour councillors. We do not have one Conservative member on Cambridge City Council. Respect tried, but failed in May, but imagine if they win next time round and we still lose. Why aren't we out each week as a visible force in marginal seats - starting right now? Let people see us on the streets.

I think we should make lots more anonymous test calls to associations, it's the only way to find out if they really are connecting with the electorate and what problems they may have which can be nipped in the bud now.

Richard Bailey said...

Please put us out of our misery, Iain. It's half ten on Sunday morning, and I gotta to know!

Anonymous said...

I wonder... has Hilton been attending some of Dougie Smith's Fever Parties?

Anonymous said...

It gets worse, you know. I've tried to get in touch with the Public Sector Improvement programme that is currently being championed on the Conservative Party's website as one of Cameron's Big Six challenges.

I've had one reply to my emails in two months, and yet this was supposed to be an "open forum for ideas and innovation" through which members of the public send in their ideas to help take us forward as a party.

I sincerely hope the idea of consulting the public isn't a smokescreen.

Anonymous said...

Pedant (or is that pederast?) that I am, I think if anyone is upping anything it's likely to be an ante rather than anti - or even aunty, possibly.

Man in a Shed said...

I'm afraid of the local associations I have been affiliated to only one has been welcoming - Aberdeen South.

Your help is wanted at election time, but there is little interest at any other time. ( Yes invites to black tie events – but little more. To be fair there is a revitalised political discussion group which even has a blog here. )

Some of it is culture - the party has aged so much recently. The association I belong to has to report the number of members who died each year - and its getting hard to keep up. I'm nearly 40 and belonging to the party is the only thing that makes me feel young.

Anonymous said...

In a nice little piece about Dave's green ties the Mail points out that his supplier in London also looks after Beckham & Cruze.
Not a good line really,one was sacked by England,the other by his studio.
Hope things don't run in three's!

Anonymous said...

This concurs absolutely with my experience of joining the party, and at least one other person's that I know.

I joined via the CCHQ website, and heard nothing for several months. Eventually I did receive a letter from my agent, as a mutual acquaintance was able to 'speed things along'.

Once we'd got over this little hicup, it goes without saying that my association were crying out for help with forthcoming local elections, I very soon found myself a member of the Exec, BC candidate, etc etc.

Incidentally, I live in a true blue Tory constituency, we have a supposedly good agent, strong association and active membership. This sort of thing should not be happening, how hard can it be? Needless to say each party blames the other!

The Druid said...

Not at all surprised. Carrier pigeon would be a better way of communicating. In any case there are some deeply unattractive people in the party. Simple as that.

A while back at home I was asked by the local MP to set up a YCs branch. So having gathered together a group of people someone in the association had the bright idea of inviting down a YC chairman from a branch in the sarf east. All was going swimmingly until he got into his stride and said "of course the real problem is the Jews". Shocked I asked him what he meant. Off he went on the usual rant. The really worrying thing was that I was the only person who thought it outrageous. I swiftly absented myself from the meeting and any further involvement. I was so disgusted I let my membership lapse. I have never really felt comfortable with some party members since. I keep wondering if they are closet anti-Semites. (I am not Jewish BTW)

Then there were the associations who did not admit women despite that fact that party was led by one! In that sense they are of course no different to these working men clubs that our millionaire New Labour governors belong to.

Equally some associations are hives of snobbery where I expect C1 and C2's are not made to feel welcome. If the association has black tie events then not everyone is going to feel welcome.

Mrs Thatcher over saw a social revolution in this country. The country is much more classless. And a good thing. In that sense we are much more like Australia now. The problem is that the party is still stuck in the past. And is run in some places by the usual bigots in blazers.

Anonymous said...

I there is considerable evidence that David Cameron is advised by high calibre marketing folk.
Direct Marketing , in my expierience, does not work expect in very low grade products with a small mark up . For a `Complex Product ` like a political party it is useless. ( I buy it not sell it by the way)

Brand `recognition is therefore the only useful area , but whithin this set there is more complexity than has so far been suggested .The value of the brand , when it is a political party ,is created by the people that are associated with it

Burberry are an obvious example of a company who have been involved in what appears to be a peverse practice called `ANTI MARKETING`.
They see their prized `goodwill` ( in the technical sense) wilting due to association with brand down-placing groups and they have actively sought ,by pricing and advertsing ,to lose a section of customers.


To explain it in a games playing `Blonde girl` picture. `Man` has to persuade blonde girl to ask who he is as any approach will devalue him leading to no sex.
Man is in conversation with one member of incrowd and one `Ian- dale- like- loser` Man immiediately tells `Ian-Dale-like-loser` a proffessional blogger is a parsitic sycophant . Ian -Dale -like -Loser immiediately walks off .

Blonde girls seeing only in crowd members approaches and is duly rogered.


This is why David Cameron has actively sought to enrage sections of the Conservative Party.
Libertarians and Constitutional traditionalists are the nerdy male

Members of the Liberal Party and middling voters who should vote Conservative but find it embarrassing , are the Blonde .


I am ambivelent . Until last week when this tactic started to include insulting Margaret Thatcher and the oxyomoron Liberal Conservative I was all for it . Suddenly I thought` Oh christ I`m the loser not the cool guy `

Ian Dale himself pointed out that this was dangerous water for the good ship Cameron . My hope is that David will judge he has reached the sticking point and further twists ( of the knife) would be unwise.
Otherwise we shall start `preparing for the Post Cameron era`


By the wasy i have contributed to this Bolog a bit now and in my humbe opnion my contributions bare invariably the best. I think i need my own blog .? Is it just me

Anonymous said...

Slightly worrying that he doesn't understand Direct Marketing....

Anonymous said...

I don't care about Cameroon's marketing, but he just doesn't act like a stateman in waiting, which is the one sure-fire marketing strategy for any opposition leader.

Moreover, he is clumsy, the 9/11 fiasco really could have been avoided -- but for me the thought is, if he messes this no-brainer up, what else will he do if he ever gets elected?

If Cameroon was the Mr. Right for the conservatives, y'all would not be discussing this question...