Caroline Spelman launches online adverts

The Conservative Party has launched a series of online ads today.  Nine different ads will appear over the next five days on sites including Facebook, Lycos and national newspaper websites.  The nine themes will be:

• Teaching by ability
• Fighting the closure of A&E and maternity units
• Referendum on EU constitution
• Tougher sentencing, more police, end to early release scheme
• Setting up emergency pension fund
• Value for money in public services
• Cut family taxes, increase taxes on pollution
• Fairer trade and aid

You can view the ads by clicking here.  Stills from the ad on crime are pasted below:

Start image:

Second image:

Third image:

Fourth image:

Editor's comment: "This initiative has to be welcomed.  The themes chosen are good ones.  'It's time for a change' is the right slogan.  On the downside I wonder if people will know that there are different ads.  Perhaps a different colour or different image of David Cameron should have been used to make it clearer that there were different ads?  I would also suggest more micro-targeting in future with ads on the family featuring on Christian sites etc."

3pm: Click here to see Tim Montgomerie and Iain Dale talk to Sky News about this initiative.

Comments

[Michael Veitch]

these look great

[Curly]

What a cracking good idea, I hope they manage to get into The Telegraph!

[Iain]

Is Aid really the 8th most pressing issue on the electorates mind, and not immigrtation, the West Lothian Question, and others?

[David Belchamber]

Very good and positive. I hope every fact and figure quoted has been checked for accuracy.

[Mike Thomas (215cu)]

Internet advertising reaches millions and millions and compared to radio & TV advertising, it costs peanuts.

Brilliant idea. Keep 'em coming Coulson.

[Jennifer Wells]

So much cheaper than billboard advertising, too.

[johnC]

I didn't know Cameron was lefthanded.

[Moral minority]

My wife cannot have children. So my taxes will rise under a Conservative government that will increase green taxes. The Lib Dems will increase green taxes but reduce income tax. No prizes for guessing which policy I prefer.

[Edison Smith]

JohnC - I wouldn't be surprised if that is a cock-up.

[Moral minority]

"Fairer trade" means managed rather than free trade. Who will decide what is fair trade? The protectionist European Union! Remember that Sarkozy is a protectionist so he will side with EU bureaucrats.

George Osborne's aid pledge (0.7% of GDP) will cost the British taxpayer at least £500 million a year more than at present. It is easy to be generous with other people's money.

Value for money in public services is an oxymoron. It is because services are run by the state, ie. publicly funded and run, that they cannot deliver for money.

With the exception of the EU referendum and ending early release, these policies are distinctly unConservative.

[Iain]

"With the exception of the EU referendum and ending early release, these policies are distinctly unConservative."

I am not sure I would agree with that but certainly agree with you over Aid and Fair trade. As far as I can see there is no evidence that Aid works, and as I have said its just international welfare, and tax money used to keep left wing Aid agency workers in jobs. Why the Conservatives should be in favour of that I know not, But it certainly shows that Cameron's Conservatives have conceded the argument to left wing consensus.

[Informed]

Iain, Read the report from the Globalisation and Global Poverty Group. It sets out the conservative argument on fairer trade, and challenges much of the traditional thinking on aid. Not a surrender to the left wing consensus at all.

[Iain]

Informed, I did, and commented on it (link)

http://standupspeakup.conservatives.com/globalpoverty/aid/africa.htm?cmd=comment

The fact is Osborne has pledged to increase our Aid to developing countries, its my belief that Aid, other than in disaster relief, is the problem, for it creates dependency, corruption, stymies real development, and keeps the corrupt political classes in power.

[EML]

Cool, nothing wrong with trying something different.

[Jon Gale]

All looks good - except for the one about Aid and Fair Trade, where I agree with Iain.

[Mark]

Sounds like good stuff.

[Richard]

To crudely copy-and-paste my comment from Iain Dale's blog, as I do think it might be a good idea:

They should really buy some PPC adverts (see https://adwords.google.com) - you know, those sponsored links that appear besides search results. They could bid on popular politics-related terms that people might be searching for (since Google is pretty much the index for Wikipedia) and provide a comment about the Conservative take on this issue. I don't think it would cost much at all - the cost-per-click is high for search terms like "unsecured loan" and "cheap plastic surgery", not "Iraq war" or "West Lothian question" (or "Gordon Brown"...).

ADDENDUM: I have run some of these terms through the Overture Keyword Assistant, and the figures I get (which do not include Google, meaning they only represent about 20% of internet searches):

"david cameron" = 2342
"gordon brown" = 7592
"boris johnson" = 1211
"ken livingstone" = 662
"iraq" = 16005
"iraq war" = 4839
"nhs" = 44347
"west lothian" = 5244
"devolution" = 501
"conservative party" = 2570
"social responsibility" = 191
"inheritance tax" = 13150 ("green tax" = 58)
"eu constitution" = 202
"eu" = 5281

It would probably cost about 1p a click to bid (i.e. put a text advert) on any of these terms. One can also 'content match' them, so to appear on certain advertising websites.

[TimB]

To be fair 'Fair Trade' is mostly just our way of attacking the EU's policies. Lilley's report was basically sound.

[Tony Makara]

Visually impacting and the messages are clear cut. Very good.

[William Humbold Jr]

You can already now vote about Europe at www.FreeEurope.info.

Vote YES to Free Europe Constitution!