NDP Media Strategy = Epic Fail

I am concerned that the NDP has embarked on an epic mission to begin buying media in a run-up to a federal election.

This will be an epic fail. (Perhaps Hack Layton is aware of this and this is why he is busy negotiating and selling out all remaining dignity of the progressive left to form Canada’s latest Conservative-NDP coalition).

Getting back on track:  The inspiration for this piece was a call I received the other night from a volunteer who was raising funds for the NDP.

Mistake #1:  This person made the mistake of suggesting that they had to start planning their media buys now in anticipation of a major campaign some time later in the spring.

Mistake #2:  Booking all of this media when an election may not even happen will result in significant cancellation fees.

Mistake #3:  Planning a media campaign that revolves around dead traditional media formats.

Mistake #4 (and the biggest one of all):  trusting your media campaign to people that want you to fail.

Why does the NDP insist on lining the pockets of those who would destroy them?

Do we all think companies like Sun Media, Bell or Rogers give a shit about the NDP when it comes to election issues?  Do you think they’ll give the NDP the same level of discounts or rebates that the Cons will get?  Or maybe even the Liberals?

No … but they’ll gladly take their money as election fever ramps up.

Spending donations from me or hundreds of thousands of other Canadians on companies that seek to destroy our liberties is madness, to say the very least.  They would dump buckets of cash into the same machine that is bringing us lying via journalism and usage-based billing.

The best thing for all opposition parties to do would be to push a media boycott out into mainstream media.  Stop buying TV space on CTV.  Stop buying full-page ads in Maclean’s and the Globe.  Don’t bother with radio ads that belong to Astral stations.

Really think about ways that you can get grassroots momentum.

I’m not normally in the habit of giving free media strategy advice, but the reality is that getting 50,000 or 100,000 Facebook followers is easy.  Give them something to ‘Like’.

Getting people to re-tweet your content is basic.  Push up the volume on getting the public pissed off.

Wasting millions of donations on old media and companies that want your party buried is just sad.