Tories’ digital ad blitz echoes Vote Leave

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THE Conservatives have launched a digital advertising blitz in the final days of the campaign, securing the top advertising YouTube spot yesterday.

Every UK visitor to the video-sharing site yesterday will have seen the latest Tory advert running along the top of the home page.

So far it has been seen 1.5million times, costing the party an estimated £100,000.

The video shows bickering politicians blighting the lives of normal Britons and makes no mention of Boris Johnson or other leaders, sticking to a clear People v Parliament theme.

The approach echoes that taken by Vote Leave during the referendum campaign, which spent £1.5million in the last week of the campaign on Facebook and digital adverts and videos.

Analysis by the organisation Who Targets Me showed that by Thursday, the Conservatives had only spent 10 per cent of the £2.1million total splurged on Facebook ads in 2017.

Sam Jeffers, a former political digital campaign consultant and co-founder of Who Targets Me, said the data suggested the Conservatives were testing to see which messages were most effective ahead of a potential social media onslaught in the final days of the campaign.

He said: “We’re now into the final week and the Tories are clearly going to get their message out there. By advertising in this way on YouTube you literally can’t miss it – every UK user will have seen their messaging.

“Advertising in this way is not cheap and research indicates this kind of advertising would cost around £100,000.”

Mr Jeffers said the Conservatives were “clearly following” a similar strategy to Vote Leave in the 2016 referendum. “That is, have well tested and optimised messages they have been saying the same thing for the whole campaign, and then stick a big chunk of money behind that in the last few days to make sure no one can miss it.”

The Facebook Ad Archive showed that earlier this week the Conservatives were spending relatively small amounts on a large range of adverts, suggesting they were testing different messages for resonance with voters.

On Monday, the Tories launched 4,700 ads costing just £5,200, compared to the £31,000 Labour spent on its 3,100 ads in the same period.

Many of the ads the Conservatives promoted last week focused on simple emotive messages, such as “End the uncertainty”, “Respect the referendum” and “Break the deadlock. Get Brexit Done. Move on.”