Marketing - Wednesday, May 5, 2010 10:53 - 0 Comments

Celebrities make last minute contribution to the campaigns

With just a day to go before the General Election, a host of British celebrities have made their political allegiance very public in a last-ditch attempt to sway voters.

The various strategies and methods of the different election campaigns have dominated UK marketing news ever since the date of the General Election was announced. With polling day almost here though, the time for marketing, canvassing and political campaigning is almost over.

In what is probably the very last attempt at reaching a national audience, celebrity supporters for each of the three major parties have publicly stated their allegiance.

Labour’s supporters include JK Rowling, a long-time supporter of the party, David Tennant, Duncan Bannatyne, Ross Kemp and Eddie Izzard. Both Kemp and Izzard have appeared in party political broadcasts recently, with Izzard’s message in particular netting thousands of views. Brand Republic reports that his “Brilliant Britain” video - where Izzard challenges the view of a ‘broken Britain’ based on his recent experiences – has been viewed 93,669 times.

In Kemp’s 60 second video, several other celebrity supporters make brief appearances including Richard Wilson, Prunella Scales, Bill Bailey and Tony Robinson.

Meanwhile the Conservative Party has been publicly supported by Michael Caine, Gary Barlow, Ian Wright, Carol Vorderman, Kirstie Allsopp and newsreader Trevor Macdonald. Additionally, Simon Cowell has recently written a column in support of the Tories in The Sun, though unlike the others he has not formally declared himself as a patron of the party.

The Liberal Democrats are supported by Colin Firth, Kate Winslet and several musicians such as Brian Eno, Chris Martin and bands Razorlight and the Kooks. Richard Dawkins has also lent his support to the campaign. Brian Eno – the Lib Dems official youth adviser – provided the soundtrack to the Lib Dem election broadcast, “Say Goodbye to Broken Britain.”