Communications & Brand
How do we turn good ideas into a party people know, trust and want to be part of?
Too few people know who we are
The SDP has strong policies, a unique political position and a serious purpose. People who take the time to discover the party are often surprised by how much they agree with us.
But too few people know who we are, what we stand for or why they should join.
We produce good individual pieces of work. We announce policies, publish commentary and appear on podcasts and programmes. But we often explain something once and then move on. That makes it difficult for the party to become known for anything, however good the original work may be.
Today volunteers do not have a brand pack with standard templates and layouts for event announcements, updates, social media posts and more. This means that much of their valuable time is being lost inventing posters etc from scratch. We will change this by creating a library of media resources.
Recognition, trust, involvement, growth
The proposals below aim to help the SDP reach many more people, grow and involve its membership, and become recognised as a serious national political force.
Decide what we want to be known for
A political party cannot become known for everything at once.
Decide what we want to be known for
A political party cannot become known for everything at once.
The SDP needs to choose a small number of important subjects on which we will make a sustained and distinctive case – alongside the umbrella framing that shows who we are, fundamentally, as a party.
We then need to keep making that case through our policies, public comments, campaigns and local activity.
Which subjects we choose matters enormously, but that deserves a proper discussion of its own during ‘Research & Policy’ week. I am deliberately not prescribing them here because this session is about how we communicate our ideas once those priorities have been agreed.
Changed after the surgeryMake the SDP easier to understand
People should not need to read several policy papers before they understand the party.
Make the SDP easier to understand
People should not need to read several policy papers before they understand the party.
We need a simple top-level account of who we are, who we are for and what we want Britain to become. A green paper or policy statement should exist in stratified form – everything from the original text right up to a meme. We need ways into the arguments, as well as the depth of the argument itself. More than anything, we need to meet people where they are in their own lives.
‘A Britain That Can’ is my attempt to demonstrate this during the leadership campaign. It connects the SDP’s ideas to a feeling many people already have about the country – a feeling they can recognise their own lives in – while showing the SDP as the solution, via a more hopeful route than purely anger or nostalgia.
Changed after the surgeryGive the SDP a recognisable character
The SDP should be recognisable before someone even sees the logo.
Give the SDP a recognisable character
The SDP should be recognisable before someone even sees the logo.
That means we need to produce:
- A visual identity that is modern, inviting and suits the character of the party
- Communications that unmistakably look like us (templates and tools plus a style guide)
- A way of writing that is distinctive, clear and compelling (tone of voice)
In the short term, I would make it much easier for candidates, regions and volunteers to produce communications that look and feel like the SDP. They should have good, ready-made designs and templates for common materials, clear examples to follow and practical help when they need it.
I would also seek funding for a proper review of the party’s brand. We should build that from the party’s purpose and character upwards, rather than rushing into a superficial redesign that has to be replaced later.
I have already begun speaking with experienced creative professionals who can challenge my thinking and help us develop the right direction.
Changed after the surgeryHelp more people discover and join us
Social media matters, but it is only one route to people.
Help more people discover and join us
Social media matters, but it is only one route to people.
We should test more ways to reach people (events, local and online activism, advertising, partners etc) and more types of content (suggestions have included, for example, cartoons, quizzes, member videos and eye-catching merch). We need ideas that invite people to participate and feel part of something. When someone becomes interested, we should make it easy for them to learn more, stay in touch and join.
We should measure what happens, improve what works and stop what does not. Most importantly, we need to give promising ideas enough time and repetition to succeed.
Some of this work requires paid staff who can give it consistent attention. I will seek that funding while improving the tools and support available to our volunteers.
What members said
Members joined the second campaign surgery to discuss the question: how do we turn good ideas into a party people know, trust and want to be part of? These are the key questions that arose.
Do we need to make our messages simpler?
Yes. Every idea needs layers, from a slogan down to the green paper.
Do we need to make our messages simpler?
Yes. Every idea needs layers, from a slogan down to the green paper.
Yes. Our ideas are our strength, but at the moment you have to do a lot of reading before you get to them. One member showed us a Green leaflet that won a council ward: a doctor, a smiling face, a few lines on the back. Another reminded us of the old test that your top policies should fit on the back of a credit card.
In the future, every idea must exist in layers, from a slogan or a meme right down to the 40-page green paper. Simplifying well is hard work, which is why it often doesn’t get done.
Slogan
7 words
A Britain that can keep the lights on.
Post
1 line
Let’s make it so you can put the heating on without counting the pennies.
Leaflet
A few lines
When Britain can generate cheap energy, companies can afford to build here and our people can get jobs.
Explainer
2 minutes
A Britain that can plan its energy decades ahead, is a Britain that is free to grow and prosper. Here’s how…
Green paper
40 pages
A Britain that can stand on its own energy and fuel its own industry. A full research report, with the evidence, the costings, the graphs and the full rationale.
Are we too shy about being left of centre?
We shouldn’t avoid it, but it’s more important to position ourselves without trying to rely on contested terms.
Are we too shy about being left of centre?
We shouldn’t avoid it, but it’s more important to position ourselves without trying to rely on contested terms.
A few members commented that we are an economically left-of-centre party in many ways and we should say so with confidence, especially in a cost-of-living crisis.
I think this is a valid point. Given the history of heterodox media platforming us, we have been bracketed into a kind of ‘right wing’ group of parties. But we are genuinely mixed. The right is also crowded, and there is no point being a junior partner to anyone there.
I think the biggest opportunity here is to attract people on our own terms, without having to spend too much time triangulating exactly where we are on a spectrum.
The state we want is neither big nor small. It is competent. And the subjects we choose, and the angle we take on them, are what make us distinct. When I talk about immigration, I talk about what it has done to working-class wages, and why we import nurses instead of training our own as well as how poor immigration policy has worked incessantly against the national interest.
A member also made the point that we need to give people hope. Other parties’ names suggest we have to go back or that the country is finished. We should look forwards.
Example of a message giving hope: ‘A Britain that can’
We need to find a way to evoke what the party can do. This was one example, but not the definitive one.
Example of a message giving hope: ‘A Britain that can’
We need to find a way to evoke what the party can do. This was one example, but not the definitive one.
I chose ‘A Britain that can’ because it starts from something people already feel. Britain used to be able to do things. Now it can’t. A lot of people are living with that managed decline every day.
‘Can’ means two things. It means competence: having the capacity to do something. And it means freedom: being allowed to.
It works at every scale. Can you heat your home, find work or buy a house? Can you trust the police to turn up, or get a doctor’s appointment? Can the country defend itself and power its own industry? The same line runs from someone’s kitchen table through our institutions, to national capacity.
But it never tells anyone to feel hopeful. It describes a country that works, and then people get to hope on their own.
This actually gave me hope. It’s ironic that those in charge wore that word out and didn’t give me any at all.
I really believed in joining but was scared it had no path. After seeing your video about leadership I have now joined.
Your recent We Can video pushed me into the SDP membership fold.
It’s so nice to see someone with clear competence and a vision in the political sphere, which I have pretty much given up on.
Your video was one of balance, strategy and hope … I’ll be joining the SDP.
Does interactive content work/reach people?
We’d need to test it. But in most marketing studies it has much better effect than flat content.
Does interactive content work/reach people?
We’d need to test it. But in most marketing studies it has much better effect than flat content.
I showed an early (tongue-in-cheek) prototype of a quiz: ‘Are you sane enough to join the SDP?’ The point with this is that rather than read a lot of text telling someone how to feel, people can interact and find out for themselves that they agree with us. We also get to capture information about how people think and what paths they take.
A fair question was how people would find it. You take them there through social media (organic and paid ads), through ‘Share’ functions, and at points on the website. One member thought it might be niche. It might be, and that’s why we’d test different versions. The particular quiz - or even that format - matters less than the idea behind it: let people learn and convince themselves in their own way.
Let people convince themselves
A snapshot of the prototype from the surgery.
We need to say the same things, consistently.
The parties people remember post on their subject almost every week. We don’t, yet.
We need to say the same things, consistently.
The parties people remember post on their subject almost every week. We don’t, yet.
Over the last six months on X, the legacy parties posted on their main subject in 21 to 24 weeks out of 27. We managed 14 on our strongest, almost all of them in April and May. Some of that is resources. Some of it is planning. But people need to hear a message at least 11 times to really make sure it sinks in. We have to do more, both on and off social media.
Members suggested coordinating everyone who works on social media: sharing what works, fewer national accounts, and a rota of volunteers so we’re covered at any hour. I think the key is to get the foundations in place first. Once we know what we’re saying, to who and how, it will be much easier to get everyone pulling in the same direction.
There are then important ways to make a team of volunteers feel more confident and work more smoothly: you have to create the tools, templates, training and project management to make things flow. A member also suggested setting up skill-sharing sessions so people can learn from each other.
Greens
Energy and bills
24 / 27
Conservatives
Economy and tax
23 / 27
Reform
Immigration
21 / 27
SDP
The economy, our strongest
14 / 27
How do we get noticed locally, as well as nationally?
Show up locally, be useful, and be seen doing it.
How do we get noticed locally, as well as nationally?
Show up locally, be useful, and be seen doing it.
While some of this will be covered in Campaigning and Candidates, it is also an element of communications.
Members raised e.g. farmers, lost high-street shops and unpopular housing schemes as local issues where we could show up, and pointed out that billboards in town centres can be surprisingly cheap.
People remember how you make them feel and they trust consistency - both in terms of visibility and behaviour. So we need to help local groups with things that matter to them, such as responding to a planning application or a community action day. That makes us visible and useful at the same time.
How do we make our case under first past the post?
We have to play the game we are in, not hope for PR.
How do we make our case under first past the post?
We have to play the game we are in, not hope for PR.
People will tell us they agree with us but can’t risk letting in a party they fear. Until we have a critical mass of members - and everything that flows out from that - we won’t be seen as viable. That’s why so much of my focus is on growing the membership first, alongside building more recognisable faces in the party and stronger relationships with the media.
Then we focus. We can’t fight 650 seats. Getting one MP into Parliament starts the breakthrough. That conversation continues in Campaigning & Candidates week.
What's changed
Members tested the proposals and added to them. The discussion changed three proposals and gave me a clear order of priorities.
- Changed after the surgery
Make the SDP easier to understand
The test is simple: can a member explain the SDP to a friend in a sentence or two? If not, we still have work to do.
- Changed after the surgery
Give the SDP a recognisable character
Longer term, we need to do this properly with expert graphic designers. But in the first instance I will work with comms experts within the party to make sure we are clear on what we are saying, why and to who. And we’ll build a full suite of templates, assets and tools. I will pair them with training and skill-sharing sessions, so volunteers in every region can produce work that looks and sounds like us.
- Changed after the surgery
Help more people discover and join us
We need to set out a clear plan for which channels we are going to use for communication. Ideally we pick 2-3 IRL and online channels that give us the best chance of success. We develop a clear strategy for each, communicate it with members and work hard. We only expand when those channels are working (or have been proven not to work). This is the best way to focus resources while still having space to grow.
What I’d do first
Members asked for my top three. First, build out the messaging with comms experts within the party: what we say, to whom, and where we stand. Second, put tools, templates and training in volunteers’ hands. Third, set a three- to six-month plan for the channels we can realistically take on.
Could you help?
Do you work in PR, marketing, brand or other related areas? Ideas to share? Send me a message.