Tories brand Blair a Pinocchio in new DM push

by Jennifer Whitehead,, Brand Republic 08-Jul-03, 07:00

LONDON - The Conservative Party is capitalising on its resurgence in the polls and the government's problems, with a new direct marketing campaign that compares Prime Minister Tony Blair with Pinocchio.

The ad shows a picture of Blair with an elongated nose, and along the length of his nose are lines such as "Taxes up 50% since 1997" and "National Insurance up £8bn".

It also features a quote from Tony Blair in the Financial Times saying "We have no plans to increase tax at all", and a new version of the Conservative Party logo.

The campaign was designed by edge ideas and the copy was written by the White Door Agency, although neither are working on a retained basis for the party. It will be sent to 90,000 previous and current donors to the Conservative Party.

Theresa May, chairman of the Tories, said: "The purpose of our campaign is to highlight Labour's dishonesty on tax and to remind people that despite taxes rising we have not had the improvement in our public services that we want to see."

The Tory party currently has no retained advertising agency, but has drafted in Lords Saatchi and Bell to join a strategic communications committee, advising on strategy in the run-up to the 2005 election. Saatchi and Bell are both credited with helping Margaret Thatcher to take power in 1979, and helping her stay here.

The committee is the brainchild of the Conservative Party's director of strategic communications, Paul Baverstock, who is in the process of putting together an "election fighting fund" and looking at agencies in a range of disciplines, including advertising, direct marketing and brand strategy. He has confirmed that Lord Saatchi's M&C Saatchi will be one of the agencies approached about handling the account.

The Tory party is also on the hunt for an advertising agency to handle Steven Norris's campaign to become London mayor. Norris is the Tory candidate for the next election, set to take place in 2005.

The Tories are currently without an agency of record following the demise of Yellow M, which handled the advertising for both the Scottish Conservatives' 1999 campaign and for the Tories in the 2001 general election.

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