Politics and Advertising: Regaining a Lost Youth

What do Miliband, Cameron, Clegg and the other two have in common with Britain’s youth?

Come on, you know this one.

Oh you clever devil, well done. The correct answer is indeed ‘sod all’.

What’s interesting is that the politicians can’t admit to this disconnect. Instead they manhandle their pre-existing policies into a box marked ‘affinity’, viz. David Cameron: his policies, he’ll have you know, are certainly not skewed towards the older population thank you very much. In fact, pensions are super-duper important to young people too, because they want “their grandparents treated decently.” Well, quite. But they’d also like to continue living in London and be able to actually visit their Nan.

Dave’s not alone in this. Failing to engage young people is a problem from one end of the political spectrum to the other (except, perhaps, for Nicola Sturgeon and the Seafood Name Party, but that’s for later). Come May, would you be surprised if even fewer 18-24 year olds voted than the 44% who bothered last time? Policies aren’t addressing their needs, and so they don’t vote. As a result policies will never begin addressing their needs, and so they’ll never vote.

“Suits us nicely,” mutter the politicians into their brandies, smiles wry and eyebrows raised. A power base is a power base as far as they’re concerned, whatever its age. But wilfully letting an entire generation slip away from you is a terrible idea. Why? Because if only 44% of 18-24 year olds voted, that means there’s a good few million who are up for grabs. Lure them now and grow, not just in the short term, but by building a new set of loyal voters who will keep any given party in power and shape our nation, voting as they will with their optimism and aspirations.

But how to reach them? Well, there’s a startlingly simple approach that’s done wonders for a certain group of upstanding, socially-conscious citizens: the advertisers.

Politicians and brands are very similar: both have a product to offer and both need to reach people with it. But the political side are terrible at this, for all their communications managers and spin doctors. A few tips then, about what politicians can learn from advertising.

1. Understand your audience.

Ask young people what they care about, that’s always a good start. Clue: it certainly isn’t pensions. (It might be a Solero).

Image: Buzzfeed

Advertisers take the time to thoroughly research what motivates their audience, to understand their wants, needs and priorities; what they fear and what they hope for. Once we know what we’re dealing with, we can position our brands accordingly.

Unearthing even a small insight into how someone behaves is a friendly hand extended from them to you. For example, it’s a well-known thing that a lot of young people vote the same way as their parents. At the same time, this puts them at risk of seeming unoriginal – anathema to someone still young and scrambling to forge an identity. There’s a tension there that’s ripe for exploration. If any politicians are reading this, that’s a freebie, but you’ll have to do the rest.

2. Differentiate yourself.

Careful now. If you do this by simply hammering away at what’s iffy about the other guy you’ll just come off as nasty. I’m not saying don’t have a little dig, but do it by focusing on your own superior qualities. Apple’s ‘I’m a Mac’ did this nicely. 

Anyway, yeah, being different. It keeps things interesting, establishes adversaries to create a narrative that feeds people’s factionary instincts. Brands understand this need to set oneself apart from the competition; it is, in essence, why they advertise. But the major political parties continue to form up on the middle-ground and, as they do, young people’s interest continues to fall away. In 1987, when Thatcherism ruled and people either laughed or cried, 67% of 18-24 year olds voted. That number’s fallen steadily ever since.

This isn’t to advocate extremism (not that it doesn’t work as a differentiator, UKIP’s rise is testament to that), but to suggest that if you can find a way to set yourself apart, without embracing madness, you’ll do well.

Politicians have achieved this before, by adhering to a golden rule: find a single-minded cause and do not waver from it under any circumstances. Obama did this with ‘Yes We Can’, and the SNP did it during the Scottish referendum. They may have failed this time round, but Sturgeon’s in Salmond’s waters, keeping the song of independence thrumming by refusing to rule out another vote. That campaign gave rise to a scene the likes of which we haven’t seen in two decades: young people mobilised, passionate, vocal and informed. For the first time 16 and 17 year olds could have their say too. 80% did. As long as the SNP don’t betray this new following by wavering on their values, they’ve got voters for life.

Image: The Guardian

Admittedly, the SNP benefitted from having something genuinely momentous going on, namely the prospect of cracking apart a 300 year old union. But the EU question will be back with a vengeance before too long. Ed Miliband ought to plant his flag and say no to a referendum outright, if not because it’s what he believes is right for Britain (he does), then at least because it’s different. God knows Labour needs to be seen as standing for something; as I’m sure you’ve counted yourself (but I’ll point out anyway), the Labour manifesto mentions trade unions just once, business 35 times. Party of the left? Are you sure?

Unlike Britain’s increasingly mutable political outfits, advertisers have long known the danger in wavering from your core ideals, even for a moment. Embrace your differences and offer them to people. They’ll like that.

3. Do as well as say.

This is the most important lesson for politicians because it’s all about trust. Lose trust and you’ll never have credibility again. You’ll shed supporters and advocates faster than…well, Nick Clegg.

Perhaps young people finally reached their breaking point. They voted for Nick because he not only seemed like a sensible, positive bloke, but he leant upon a couple of issues that spoke to them directly: a sensible drug policy, phasing out university tuition fees. That last one was an iron-clad pledge, he really did bang on about it, and young people responded –  one poll a month before the 2010 election put the Lib Dems at 44 points amongst 18-34 year olds, compared with the Tories’ 28 and Labour’s 24.

Poor young people. They thought they were being led to a bountiful meadow at the mountain’s peak by Nick the friendly Sherpa. All they found was mud, which they’ve smeared all over his new white shirt. He’ll never get that out.

This might well be a watershed moment, where politicians finally realise something advertisers have known for a while now – namely that you can’t expect to get away with betraying people’s trust. It probably worked for so long with politicians because there was relatively little choice; they were all lying to you, so the best you could do was vote for whoever lied in accordance with your views. But now there are 7 parties all getting face time with the masses. Hey, it’s a crowded marketplace! Neat little analogy this. Okay, so what to do? Well, make like a brand: stand out by actually sticking to a promise. Enact what you claim to stand for. Even today’s sceptical youth won’t know what to do with that. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll be left with no other choice but to vote.

Image: Independent i100