U.K. Labour Party Targets Conservatives with Rapid Response Digital Campaign

The U.K. Labour Party has launched an integrated digital campaign seizing on comments from Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, which apparently implied the Conservative Party would cut public spending by 10 percent if they came to power following next year’s election.

The “Mr 10%” campaign — aimed at Conservative leader David Cameron — was developed by digital agency Tangent One, and makes use of an animated online widget and display ads across properties such as MSN, Google AdWords and e-mail. It’s all supported by local press activity and leaflet drops designed to highlight the likely impact of such cuts on individual constituencies.

“With a campaign like this, the key is speed of reaction,” Tangent One CEO Greg Jackson told ClickZ. “Labour will identify a news event, and give us a call to see what we can do online. Rapid reaction like this is becoming the hallmark of where political campaigning is going,” he added. According to Jackson, the widget and e-mail shot went live the same afternoon the news broke, with display ads reaching networks the following day.

The “Mr 10%” creative units link through to the official labour site, which encourages users to sign a petition urging Cameron to explain where potential funding cuts might fall. The site and widget also feature Facebook functionality, in the hope that party members and supporters will further aid viral distribution.

According to Jackson, this viral, word-of-mouth approach is central to Labour’s digital strategy. “We put a lot of thought into what people use the digital content and tools for. The site is unlikely to get much use from floating voters, unless it’s during the run-up to an election, so we focus on creating assets to aid existing members and supporters in their own campaigning, using social media, blogs, and even national media outlets,” said Jackson.

Though his agency provides the Party with strategic, creative and execution services, Jackson was complimentary of Labour’s own in-house team, and party members, which he said have been “early adopters” of digital tools.

Tangent One is currently Labour’s retained digital agency, alongside MindShare for media planning and buying services.