Entry 05: The State of UK Political Branding and Communication May 2025
The 1st of May 2025 UK local elections have highlighted significant issues in political communication and branding, particularly for progressive parties. The lack of compelling campaigns, ambition, and data-driven strategies should be a wake-up call. To make gains in the next election, these parties need to connect locally with the electorate now and gain a better understanding of retail politics in the post-trust, post-truth era of misinformation.
Challenge
We live in an era where there is more and more information and less and less meaning. The political class has never really adapted to the 24-hour media cycle, which in many ways has cheapened political discourse and made their communication staid and boring. While Blair still irritates many for a wide variety of reasons, one thing he did have right was the ability to communicate.
Today, in the attention economy, political communications are even more complex. With the proliferation of podcasts and new wave gurus, the main political parties appear to be sinking. Labour, in particular, seems unable to find the message or offering that resonates with the demographic that naturally votes for them, which is between 18 and 49 years old.
Brand Trust
Political brands work the same as retail brands. They must be seen to act for the consumer, be on the side of the voter, respect them, provide a vision, and guarantee their lives will get better. After years in opposition and one year in government, Labour has failed to notice this simple fact. This may indicate their core strategy is being run by bureaucrats and technocrats who are either too ideologically driven, out of touch, or just unable to adapt to being in power. Either way, it will cost them if they do not change.
Outcome of the Election
Labour Party: Labour should be the most concerned. After a year in government, they have failed to present a coherent retail offering for their brand. Despite dominating the under-50 demographic, they have not connected, inspired, or offered a vision that addresses inequality or provides a coherent economic plan. The party has shifted to the right, appearing technocratic, losing political capital while they remain incoherent on the economy.
They have focused too much on issues like winter fuel allowance and mixed messages on the NHS, which need to be changed. Labour lacks inspiring communicators who can deliver a meaningful message to the public and the electorate. While they are the government, they come across as widely irrelevant and disconnected, which will never connect with that core 18 upwards voter group.
Conservatives: The Conservatives can never be ruled out. However, the systematic cleansing of the party of one-nation Tories during the Johnson and Truss eras is now coming back to haunt them. While they aim to win Reform voters, they lack original thought, a compelling offering, and effective communicators. Elections are won on the centre which is what the one nation groups offered the conservatives. Without them the party is a disorganised coalition of separatist movements who seek to raise their profiles on short term populist issues.
Reform UK: As the latest variation of UKIP and pro-Brexit, Reform UK's playbook remains the same, bland, brash filled with promises, vague on policy and economics. Populists rarely manage to govern or run public office effectively. The catch-22 is that the more they win office, the more they get exposed as incompetent and come under greater scrutiny. Reform, not being a traditional political party and being the latest vehicle for nigel farrage may even look to foray into the crypto markets with a MEME coin to raise funds for the benefit of the company's owner and directors.
Liberal Democrats: Of all the established parties, the Liberal Democrats should be the most disappointed. After years of polarized politics, the electorate craves a pragmatic, centrist political brand and offering, which is the Lib Dems' space. However, they blew it.
BBC Voting Figures for Local Elections
Reform UK: +40%, winning seventy-nine seats and eleven points ahead of Conservatives. Andrea Jenkyns' win reflects the haemorrhaging of grassroots Tory right voters to Reform.
Conservatives: -28%, on course to lose between 475 and 525 council seats. Kemi Badenoch is expected to be out as leader within 12 months, leading to prolonged leadership struggles and more members over 50 years old moving to Reform.
Labour: -8%, reflecting an extremely poor first year in power with a lack of message and no offering for its core electorate aged 18-49.
Liberal Democrats: +3%, should be disappointed as the pragmatic center ground is open, but they have little cut-through on issues and policies that matter.
Independents: -7%, Green vote still matters, but they need to offer more hard logic.
Voting Demographics April 2025
18 to 24 years old: Labour Party is the most popular, with 39% support.
25 to 49 years old: Labour remains the most popular party.
50 to 64 years old: Reform UK is the most popular, with 26% support.
65 years and older: Conservative Party is the most popular, with 35% support.
The data underscores the need for progressive parties to rethink their communication strategies and brand offerings to resonate with the electorate.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1379439/uk-election-polls-by-age/
