"Vote Labservatives: for more of the same"
New guerrilla marketing strategy attempts to position Lib Dems as the only real alternative.
By Samira Shackle Published 30 March 2010 16:29
Another day, another poster.
This latest effort is part of a new guerrilla campaign by the Liberal Democrats, aiming to take advantage of these politically disillusioned times and position the third party as the only real alternative.
It's not just a poster, either. There is a whole Labservative website (with, perhaps, a touch of sour grapes -- "Of course, we don't need a campaign at all -- after 13 consecutive general election victories we can be forgiven a smidgen of complacency"), asking voters why they support "the party of the status quo", and featuring the Labservative leader, Gorvid Camerown.
A slightly tongue-in-cheek, off-centre approach is a welcome addition to the election campaign, and appears to show a greater understanding of new media than the recent, disastrous attempts by the Conservatives. It's about engaging the electorate rather than hammering home the same message with a slick site (cf: Cash Gordon). The Guardian quotes Shaun McIlrath, executive creative director at the advertising company behind the campaign, as saying: "It shouldn't be about patronising an already cynical audience."
Will it be a viral sensation? And, more importantly, will this translate into votes? It seems unlikely at the moment that party politics could capture the popular imagination, but, in what we are ceaselessly being told is the first internet election, it will be interesting to watch how this gimmick is received.
Latest tweets
More from New Statesman
- Online writers:
- Steven Baxter
- Rowenna Davis
- David Allen Green
- Mehdi Hasan
- Nelson Jones
- Gavin Kelly
- Helen Lewis
- Laurie Penny
- The V Spot
- Alex Hern
- Martha Gill
- Alan White
- Samira Shackle
- Alex Andreou
- Nicky Woolf in America
- Bim Adewunmi
- Glosswitch
- Kate Mossman on pop
- Ryan Gilbey on Film
- Martin Robbins
- Rafael Behr
- Eleanor Margolis
- Tools and services:
- Polls
- Predictions
- Archive
- Magazine
- PDF edition
- RSS feeds
- Advertising
- Subscribe
- Special supplements
- Stockists





















7 comments
Who cares, I just want a fresh face in No. 10, and David is the only real choice, him or Brown.
Conservatives for me!
Why settle for second best? It has to be nick clegg an vince cable
Electoral wipeouts do happen.
You only have to look at Canada in 1993 when the ruling Conservative party went from 169 seats to 2.
(Using First Past The Post.)
Their right, it's all the same!! Mind you I don't know if the Liberal Democrats are all that different really the clue is all in that first word - liberal - their all as bad as eachother. I will vote ukip or bnp and hmmm somehow I dont think ill be the only one! Lasberative democrats, more like! backfired?
This is simply Brilliant!!!
It's already the hottest topic on the internet, and has hit the airwaves in Australia too!!
Aussies will also be voting this year, and are disillusioned with their own version of the Labservatives... still chuckling!
It is very good, and it is something that is crying out to reach the public consciousness.
Apathy has brought us the two-party system that has caused so much damage. Now is the perfect time for people to realise it doesn't have to be that way.
Latest Tweet (when I looked - now removed):Error: Twitter did not respond.
Probably the reaction from the electorate too.