Communications and the Election: Talk Issues

Claire Thompson, freelance PR Consultant, Waves PR

A few days ago, I posted an article about my frustration at the negative election communications, each politician trying to score points and discredit the others. I’m far from alone in feeling that what’s being communicated is a turn off, and I’ve been fortunate to engage with Kevin Anderson, who rather than just rail against it has been part of a group that set up TalkIssues:

What inspired TalkIssues and who’s behind it?

Suw, my wife, and I often talk about how frustrated we were with political coverage. Underlying much of it is an assumption that the average person isn’t interested in politics. To get them interested, the press believes they need to focus on the soap opera of personalities in politics rather than the issues that affect people’s lives such as education, the economy, the debt or immigration. This isn’t new. However, this is an important election and too often we felt that we were watching life imitate Dr Who, the Christmas episode when David Tennant brings down a prime minister by saying ‘She looks a little tired.’

Kevin Anderson: "If there's one thing that I'd urge people to do is that if they are angry or feeling alienated from politics, there is a solution: get involved."

So many people we spoke to felt alienated from democracy: shut out by a media that infantilised their audience, and treated by political parties as little more than consumers to be marketed to. It’s government by brand managers. Is this what British democracy had come to on the eve of one of the most important elections in recent history?

How can we get back to talking about the issues? Instead of letting the media and the parties get caught up in some soap opera subplot, why not use social media to push back and get them to talk about the issues? In addition to that, we want to bring together smart bloggers and policy people to talk about the issues, not only those that will affect the election but also those would live beyond the six weeks. It’s not about party politics but giving people a space to talk about the topics that are important to them and feel some ownership of their democracy.

I sent out emails to Dominic Campbell with FutureGov, and Mick Fealty of the excellent political blog, Slugger O’Toole. Dominic brought in Anthony Zacharzewski of Democratic Society, and it has just grown from there.

Why should anyone care about TalkIssues?

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Surprises at the Centre for Creative Collaboration

Claire Thompson, Freelance PR Consultant, Waves PR

Thias Martin and Brian Condon (Complexity Partners) at the Centre for Creative Collaboration. Photo by Hannah Nicklin (some rights reserved)

This Friday (April 9) , the thupr event is being held at the Centre for Creative Collaboration near King’s Cross. Having been there several times, I asked co-founder, Brian Condon some questions about the venue.

I was pleasantly surprised.  I knew that the project would run for two years, but at the back of my mind was wondering if it was possible to achieve the centre’s lofty ambitions in the time specified. After all, we’re in April and the still unfurnished venue had opened over a month ago.

Wrong!

The venue isn’t even officially open yet, but already has a busy vibe and five projects already utilising the space. I personally love the music project that’s interacting with the outside space – it looks like African warrior shields lined up. It sounds like something from ‘Close Encounters’.

The Q&A responses about the venue, given by  co-founder Brian Condon,  can be seen here: http://www.wavespr.com/thupr/thupr-3-natural-seo/about-the-centre-for-creative-collaboration/

Interview: Murray Newlands

Murray Newlands is a digital marketing advisor, interviewed ahead of the thupr event on natural SEO he’s co-organising on Friday April 9. His blog can be found at http://www.murraynewlands.com/

What do you do? Who are your customers?

Murray Newlands

My primary focus right now is putting together a social media events program for the rest of the year. I have an active affiliate business and plenty of consultancy clients, so life is busy. My daily post is my way of staying in contact and communicating what I am interested in.

I watch little TV and think while I am doing other activities.

What’s the difference between digital marketing and affiliate marketing?

Digital marketing embraces all aspects of marketing online, while affiliate marketing is just one niche of that – affiliates are paid on a commission for on-line traffic/sales.

How do you work with PR people?

I do digital PR with blogging outreach so it’s something I am involved with on many levels.

The connection between PR people and bloggers is the topic of this month’s London Blog Club. I have also provided strategic consultancy to some more traditional PR companies as to how to work more effectively  in the online space.

How do you work with bloggers?

Every blogger is different and every blog is different. If you want to work with bloggers you need to understand what drives them. I try and work out what type of blogger is likely to want to be interested in the project I am working on and what they might want. Then I ask my friends who are bloggers and contacts in that field – I’m lucky: I know lots of bloggers.

Bloggers often know all the other bloggers in the same space, and while they may compete there is usually a friendly exchange between them. If you can connect with the group you can scale a campaign, fast. Tip: find out who the leaders/ influencers of the group are.

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Sam Michel, Chinwag at Social Media Measurement

Claire Thompson, freelance PR consultant, Waves PR

Marketer Murray Newlands interviews Sam Michel, Chinwag, at the thupr Social Media Measurement event in London, part of Social Media Week