Tories unveil Let Down by Labour national poster drive

by Jules Grant,, Brand Republic 27-Apr-04, 15:00

LONDON – The Conservative Party is keeping up the pressure on embattled Prime Minister Tony Blair with the launch of a national 'Let Down by Labour' poster campaign, which is being rolled out today.

The launch of the campaign coincides with a new research document called 'Let Down by Labour: The Real Manifesto', which aims to highlight the gulf between what Blair promised when he first came to power in 1997 and what his government has actually delivered after seven years in office.

Tory party leader Michael Howard unveiled a series of posters and the manifesto at the Excel Centre in London's Docklands today and has confirmed that 'Let Down by Labour' will be one of the themes used in the European elections in June.

The posters feature five key points: a million violent crimes last year; 66 tax rises; a million children played truant last year; a million people still on NHS waiting lists; and a million young people not in work, education or training. Underneath the headlines is the slogan "Let Down by Labour".

The posters were created jointly by the Tory party's ad agencies M&C Saatchi and Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest.

The campaign is to be supported by national grass-roots marketing drive and an email marketing campaign, which have been created in-house.

The creative was part of a research project, which included a Let Down By Labour microsite, where users were invited to suggest film, TV and poster ideas showing how they had been let down by Labour. The Tory party claims that the best ideas may be used or shown on TV.

This morning, Howard said: "After seven years, people see little has changed. They know that Labour has let them down. I want to lead a government that means what it says. It will not say one thing to one interest group and something else to another. I want to lead a government that will not let people down."

Later this week the party will launch its official campaign for the local and European elections on June 10. Earlier this month it was revealed that the party wanted to put the internet at the heart of its advertising activity as it seeks to update its image and establish itself as the political party for the 21st century.

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