Forty-second Spotify ad makes Conservatives the first UK political party to exploit internet music service
Mark Sweney
guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 October 2009 07.13 BST
Photograph: Martin Argles
Mark Sweney
guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 October 2009 07.13 BST
Photograph: Martin Argles
The Conservatives are to become the first UK political party to run a marketing campaign on the internet music service Spotify, in a bid to target the hard-to-reach youth audience.
A 40-second ad for the party will launch next Wednesday on the fast-growing peer-to-peer music streaming service. The ad, which will run for one week, features the Conservative party chairman, Eric Pickles, speaking on the issue of debt, backed by a message that Spotify users should vote Tory at the next general election.
The campaign is thought to be the first to be run by a political party on Spotify. The service's ability to target listeners by postcode means that the Tories may use the service more extensively as the election draws closer, to deliver local messages to voters.
One key aim of the campaign is to target web-savvy younger voters, many of whom may not be traditional Tory supporters, and it also allows the party to skirt political advertising rules that apply to traditional media.
UK political parties cannot advertise on TV or radio outside of election broadcasts in the run-up to a general election.
"We are always looking for new and relevant ways of engaging with people, and I think this Spotify advert adds to an already strong track record of being early adopters when it comes to online communication," said the shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt. "The growth of Spotify in the UK has been phenomenal. We were particularly impressed with its advertising model and its potential for political campaigning."
The Conservatives have been pressing forward on the digital campaigning front. Earlier this month the party launched a campaigning website that it claimed was the most advanced of its kind, except that which helped carry Barack Obama to the White House.
And late last year the Tories undertook a massive overhaul of the main party website, Conservatives.com, the biggest in seven years. In 2006 the Conservatives launched a viral ad campaign called "the inner tosser", which also aimed to target younger voters.
A 40-second ad for the party will launch next Wednesday on the fast-growing peer-to-peer music streaming service. The ad, which will run for one week, features the Conservative party chairman, Eric Pickles, speaking on the issue of debt, backed by a message that Spotify users should vote Tory at the next general election.
The campaign is thought to be the first to be run by a political party on Spotify. The service's ability to target listeners by postcode means that the Tories may use the service more extensively as the election draws closer, to deliver local messages to voters.
One key aim of the campaign is to target web-savvy younger voters, many of whom may not be traditional Tory supporters, and it also allows the party to skirt political advertising rules that apply to traditional media.
UK political parties cannot advertise on TV or radio outside of election broadcasts in the run-up to a general election.
"We are always looking for new and relevant ways of engaging with people, and I think this Spotify advert adds to an already strong track record of being early adopters when it comes to online communication," said the shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt. "The growth of Spotify in the UK has been phenomenal. We were particularly impressed with its advertising model and its potential for political campaigning."
The Conservatives have been pressing forward on the digital campaigning front. Earlier this month the party launched a campaigning website that it claimed was the most advanced of its kind, except that which helped carry Barack Obama to the White House.
And late last year the Tories undertook a massive overhaul of the main party website, Conservatives.com, the biggest in seven years. In 2006 the Conservatives launched a viral ad campaign called "the inner tosser", which also aimed to target younger voters.
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