Weekly Wrap - Tony Foggett
Manchester's congestion charge is still causing much debate, despite a resounding No vote. Tony Foggett, MD of Code Computerlove, takes the stage to argue for a lost opportunity for Manchester.
Now that the results are out for the vote on the 3 billion transport investment fund in Manchester it’s clear to see that the Yes Campaign never really stood a chance. This is going to sound harsh, but with winning margin of 8 out of every 10 votes, I’m left asking myself did the Yes campaign make any difference to outcome at all?
God I hated that Shark, the No’s definitely had the easier job, their tools were confusion, our natural selfish instincts and our suspicion of change (especially when our local councils are involved).
What the No campaign lacked in creativity it made up for in effectiveness. Their creative used every danger symbol under the sun to deliver the oldest trick in the book, a simple message about cost “Up to £1200 a yr Congestion Charge!”. They had looked for the message that was going to have the most impact and widest appeal and positioned the “C-Charge” as the one thing we all love to hate, a Tax.
I felt sorry for the Yes Vote, any campaign that is going to rely on altruism in the current climate is doomed from day one. I also spoke to many people who felt it was the right thing to do but did not trust local government to get it right. On top of this the Yes Vote had to demystify an already complicated proposition, combat the negativity of the No Campaign and some how do the impossible of getting us to imagine what 3 billion worth of investment would actually do for the city.
In the face of all this, the Yes creative did the one thing that we often see from public sector, they tried to speak to everyone and ended up saying very little. Tailored messages to different cross sections of society, wholly irrelevant to I guess about 8 out of 10 people who went by.
Neither of the campaigns used the internet that well. Both of the main websites sites www.wevoteyes.com and www.stopthecharge.com were optimised very poorly and considering the role of the internet as a research tool for potential swaying voters this is criminal. In fairness www.gmfuturetransport.co.uk countered this with a very informing but dull site that ranked well in the search engines and the Nos guaranteed a search tail with PPC. The internet would have been a perfect place for the Yes Vote to sell the dream and scale of what this investment could bring to the city.
In terms of social media both sides have been blogging and commenting like crazy but with the balance of activity swaying with opinion in favour of the Nos. In terms of user generated content the MP Lucy Powells managed to get various blogs to link to her YouTube video which achieved about 180,000 views compared to 2000 for the most viewed No contribution. Facebook would have been a great media space to deliver a targeted message or tap into potential campaign resource.
It seems to me that political campaigning is a short game with two goals; affect opinion and galvanise that into the action of voting. In the end the No campaign kept it simple and concentrated on economics, the Yes campaign went everywhere but with no single compelling argument. Unfortunately you can’t combat a £1200 a yr tax with the promise of cleaner air.