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All three main political parties are failing miserably in their use of new digital channels to reach voters, according to a new Digital MOT that CBJWT has conducted to coincide with the local elections and the election of London’s Mayor on May 2nd. Using the same Digital MOT that we use to assess the performance of hundreds of household brands each year, CBJWT scored the Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems on their use of a range of digital media including website effectiveness, social media, accessibility compliance and search-engine activity.
All three parties failed to meet the pass rate of 60 points. The Conservatives fared best with 57 out of a possible 105 points, the Lib Dems were second with 54 and Labour trailed in last with 51 points. Some of the most damaging findings of the report include:
1. Failing to connect with voters through Google
With thousands of searches for political information each month, Google is one of the key ways that the parties can be making themselves easy to find. But none of the 50,000 Google searches per month for ‘local elections’ lists any of the three major parties in pages 1 – 4 – a huge missed opportunity to connect with potential voters. Key search terms including immigration, NHS and foreign policy failed to find a single mention of any of the three parties.
2. No party is using Mobile Web effectively
With more people predicted to use mobiles than PCs to get online by 2013, smartphone usage is one of the fastest growing areas of digital media and is an opportunity to interact with voters, even as they’re standing in the voting booth. Neither Labour nor the Lib Dems even have a mobile website and the Conservatives mobile site is uninspiring and difficult to read.
3. Lazy and uninspiring use of social media
The combined total Facebook updates from the three parties in the month leading up to the local elections is only 68. The total number of tweets over the same period is a meagre 79. While they have relatively high follower numbers and likes, there is no outreach activity and no drive to create real dialogue with voters. The parties are simply replicating existing activity by posting updates about activities and news rather than using them to really interact with voters. There’s also confusion around the number of accounts, with each of the parties operating three separate Twitter accounts each and none of the Tories accounts rated as official.
4. Failure to comply with Disability Discrimination Guidelines
Labour and the Liberal Democrats are failing to check that their website articles are using alt text that can be read by visually impaired voters. Some pages featured as many as 12 accessibility errors.
To access the full report or arrange to have a Digital MOT conducted on your brand’s online strength, contact Craig Johnson on 0161 832 8884.
Most people have never actually seen the works of some of the most famous artists of all time. They’d like to know more but presume they have to visit London, Paris or New York and pay an exorbitant entry fee.
Our latest campaign for Tate Liverpool shows the opposite is true. Not only can you enlighten yourself about work by artists such as Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali and Lucian Freud, you can do so absolutely free.
All those who followed our Tweet Derby (and there were thousands of you) will no doubt agree that it turned out to be a great indicator for the match itself. Both in the Twittersphere and on the pitch itself, the Reds got off to the better start but were soon overwhelmed by the Blues once they found their stride. While the result in our Tweet Derby was much more conclusive (City 2170 v Utd 410) than the match itself, it’s probably fair to say that on both accounts the better team won.
Now to the tricky task of selecting the winning tweet. We had contributions flooding in from all over the globe but this one was the clear winner:
Blue Moon is what happens when someone with loose trousers does the Poznan #derbyred
So 2-1 to Manchester City.
On Monday 30th April, the greatest derby in Premier League history takes place at The Etihad Stadium between Manchester City and Manchester United. It will probably decide who wins the title. But who will win the derby in the Twittersphere? Which set of fans is more on the ball with digital media. The Blues or the Reds? To take part, tweet either
#derbyblue if you want City to win
or
#derbyred if you want United to win
and watch the tweet count roll up on our live totaliser below. Each tweet counts as a goal.
At 12 noon on Tuesday 1st May, we will blow the whistle and announce which team’s fans won (a) the overall tweet count and (b) the prize for the best individual tweet.
Social media and social sites are no longer new. They are an everyday part of life for hundreds of millions of people around the world. What is still developing however is our understanding about how brands can most effectively utilise, monitor and (ultimately) profit from social connections, especially working out the true value of a social connection.
A new report by Kantar (fellow members of WPP) takes the varied and complex world of social sites and starts to put in context, making sense of how social fits alongside other media, and how brands can start to use it more effectively.
You can download the report below. It comes in three parts:
Kantar – Putting Social Media in Context – Part 1
Kantar – Putting Social Media in Context – Part 2
Kantar – Putting Social Media in Context – Part 3
Everywhere you look people are using their mobile phones. Playing games, listening to music, navigating their car or their walk, or even just making calls! It’s clear that mobile technology has, and will continue to have, a significant impact on how we live our lives.
The new JWT Network report on mobile technology has revealed 15 ways in which current and future mobile technology is going to impact the lives of people around the world.
From the increasing availability of mobile communication in the developing world through to the humanisation of technology as it adapts and simplifies to become easier and more natural to use, this report is a great way to learn what the future of mobile technology is likely to hold!
Download the JWT Report – 15 Ways Mobile Will Change Our Lives here
Elephants are in crisis. They are disappearing from the Earth. We helped IFAW, the global animal charity, raise awareness of elephants in peril by creating a global badge to symbolise the campaign against the ivory trade. A simple, media neutral solution that everyone can get involved with.
The hand-sewn ribbons feature grey felt ‘ears’ and a twist of ivory ribbon to represent elephant ‘tusks’ and are made in South Africa by the ‘Learn to Earn’ organisation that aims to develop disadvantaged groups and train them to become self-sufficient. Launched in schools for Action Animal Week in October 2011, children were encouraged to ‘Join the March’ and take action to help protect elephants and ensure there is always a place for them on our planet.
‘The work was a pleasure to behold’
Adrian Hiel
IFAW Communications Officer
In this ever-changing world for brands, it’s great to know when you are doing work that’s ahead of the curve! Our latest campaign for John West has been recognised in GFK Roper’s ‘A New Global Brand Manifesto’ for being just that. 
Our ‘Discover The Story Behind Every Can’ campaign is showcased as an outstanding example of a brand that understands customers – one that sees how they want more information about the products they are buying than ever before. With millions of campaigns out there, we think it’s great to have been one of just two chosen to illustrate this growing trend.
By letting people find out exactly where their fish came from, we made sure John West was leading the way, offering this information before any other food brand.
When enough people break a law, people start to presume that it’s not really a serious crime. Most benefit fraudsters thought of themselves as just doing ‘a bit of fiddling’, and that the real criminals were those dealing in ‘the big stuff’. But we made them think again.
We reclassified fraud as theft, and made it clear that all fraud was fraud, even the little bits of fiddling. We re-educated people and made them understand that committing even a little benefit fraud was wrong.
Continue reading “MAKING FRAUDSTERS THINK AGAIN”
There are many different ways in which brands can take advantage of the internet and digital technology, but with websites, apps, mobile websites, games, digital outdoor, SEO and more, it can be almost impossible to find a creative agency that does them all. Not anymore!
Here at CHEETHAMBELLJWT our clients don’t just have access to our dedicated digital team. Our dot JWT initiative means we can call on resources from over 2000 digital, interactive, and mobile specialists from around the world. We are the only UK agency outside London with direct access to so much digital expertise.
Need an expert in digital outdoor? We can get one. Need an expert in social media in China? We can get one. No matter what our clients need, we can use dot JWT to find the right people, and make it happen.
We work in combination with our JWT network partners such as Heath Wallace, A4A, Digit and XM; and our wider WPP associates including Iconmobile, Fabric, MiG and Visible World.
Clients that have benefitted from dot JWT include: HSBC, Unicef, J&J, Macy’s, Lux and Invisible Children.
No one likes their bank do they? Well actually, first direct customers do; and what better way of encouraging trial than making a big deal of this fact?
We took the comments (good and bad) that customers were making about first direct and posted them live on their website and a special display on the London Underground. People could see an honest demonstration of the impression first direct were having and just how many good things were being said about them.
Continue reading “MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION”
Below is a selection of just a few of our great TV campaigns for retail clients, including our highly successful ads for Magnet and Gamestation, alongside one of the first ever UK TV appearances by Flight of the Conchords: