Total Politics 2010 Election Map

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Video campaigning - opportunity or threat?

 

Jonathan Upton

 

Andy Warhol may have speculated that people would have 15 minutes of fame, but the rise of digital media has probably reduced that down to just two or three minutes. Anyone who has clicked on a link in a friend's email to look at a funny clip will know of the proliferation of short videos on the web and may have looked them up on sites such as YouTube (www.youtube.com) or Google Video (http://video.google.com).
Increasingly national politicians are appearing on videos that are posted on their official websites and on micro-sites such as WebCameron (www.webcameron.org.uk) and Labour Vision (www.youtube.com/labourvision).
As an elected representative, what are the pros and cons of using these homemade videos? Are they important, or just a distraction from getting those 5,000 target letters posted through the door next weekend? Are they something to avoid? Will a comment made in the heat of the campaign, that you come to regret, be continually played back to you?
It's likely your political opponents will be trying to capitalise on this new trend, so you can't afford to ignore it. You need to understand it.
Let's look at the negatives first. US politicians have been brought down by it. Ask George Allen, the former Republican Senator for Virginia whose 2006 campaign was wrecked by the appearance of an ill-judged comment in a YouTube video, since watched by hundreds of thousands worldwide. This PR disaster led to the term "Macaca moment" being coined to suggest a major mistake by a politician that may impact on their election chances.
Don't think this only happens across the Atlantic. A Boris Johnson gaffe on his proposed bus costings for GLA finances went up on YouTube almost immediately after he had said it in error to a Labour activist. It put him on the defensive for a number of days.
Videos can rapidly "go viral" as people forward them to friends. While the best-known virals tend to be negative in nature, positive campaign virals can spread like wildfire too. Just look at the "Yes we can" video (www.dipdive.com), a speech by Barack Obama set to music and performed by a series of celebrity supporters, that gained a huge amount of press when released in February. On the other hand, John McCain's singing of "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" to the tune of a Beach Boys hit at a town hall meeting in April was quickly turned into an anti-McCain song and posted on YouTube.
The key thing to remember is that a campaigning web video is not a digital party political broadcast. It is may be very nice to watch your ten-minute address to the Rotarians about "The role of a councillor", but it is probably a pleasure you should keep for your own digital archive rather than release to the public.
Far more productive is to visually illustrate a local issue or problem, with local people shown endorsing the point you are making. A councillor could complain of the threat of flooding in their ward or the town hall's appalling indolence over a graffiti or fly-tipping epidemic. Images can be used to strengthen these concerns and may be followed up by a local newspaper.
An MP might use video as a campaign tool to answer common questions, or in response to a letter-writing campaign. As well as a usual letter in reply, you could email a link to a related video. This creates a practical visual image to reinforce the message you want to get across.

Here are some dos and don'ts to remember when making a video for the web:
1. Understand the medium. Don't just look at political videos. Look at what works in general and what is likely to invite ridicule. The most popular YouTube videos or a viral video chart will show what the public looks for and forwards to others.
2. Identify communities of interest who might best respond to a video. Young people are an obvious group, but increasingly busy young professionals in the creative and technological sectors are forgoing TV for bite-sized video viewing
3. Use good equipment to record. You can use a phone or a £25 internet video camera, but it will look amateur. That may be acceptable for something that is deliberately designed to look immediate but, in general, use recording equipment that will generate good images and sound.
4. The first ten seconds should hook the viewer to watch the rest. There must be a strong visual hook for the target audience to respond to.
5. Think two or three minutes. What can you get across effectively in that time? If you are already at five minutes, you will lose your audience.
6. If you are running a campaign, break it up into small bite-sized video segments. Those who like the first one will use the links on the same page to then view a second. By putting the choice in their hands you can more accurately measure whether your campaign is having traction and gaining adherents by the recorded number of people viewing. However, if you make more than one video, it is quite likely some viewers will not come to them in the order you intend to show things, so make sure each one is self-contained.
7. Avoid a simple address to the camera. Think of action shots and conversations with real people, with you listening to their concerns and then signalling what you intend to do.
8. Consider how to integrate video with your other web 2.0 campaign tools. For example it could be added to any blog you run, to become a video blog or "vlog". As with blog postings, you should aim to comment on one issue at a time. The great advantage is that you can do the vlog posting 'live' at the place you may be commenting on. Also, integrate it with any text messaging campaigning, as many people will now view a video on their mobile from a link that is sent to them.

So you've created a video and uploaded it. That is just the start of the process. Remember your opponents can immediately download it, adapt it, and issue a response. A quick YouTube search will reveal just how many responses to Hilary Clinton's famous "3am call" campaign advertisement now exist. You need vigilance and a readiness to rebut yourself.
What happens if you find an opponent attacking you and going beyond what is acceptable? Even if you get a video taken down after the threat of legal action, the damage may have already been done.
A final word of warning. While main party challengers, small insurgent parties and independents may gravitate to video early as it is quick for building a small operation up, you should not become dependent on it. Many voters will never see a video you produce. It should remain part of a balanced scorecard of campaign activities rather than a solution to everything.
Nevertheless, as with most web 2.0 applications, the opportunities exceed the challenges. Even if not all voters see it, the local media will. It could be used as the equivalent of the unveiling of a single poster that national politicians sometimes do on the greens outside the House of Commons. They may never put the poster anywhere else, but thanks to the media coverage it has an impact far beyond its immediate environs. The video you produce could have a similar effect locally.