Posted at Wednesday, December 14, 2005  EDT  

Parties' rush to embrace new media can sometimes backfire

KEITH McARTHUR,  MARKETING REPORTER

John Bagen and his wife have an important message for Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe.

"We think your party is pathetic . . ." Mr. Bagen says in a posting on Mr. Duceppe's blog. "You are taking our people of Quebec down the road to civil war."

Placement of the critical message on the Bloc's own website illustrates the challenge political parties have in embracing new media.

They're rushing to try out new technologies, without giving enough thought to strategy and ramifications, experts say.

"I think they all feel that they have to do something -- and what they do is not as important as being able to say they've done it," said Rick Broadhead, a Toronto-based Internet consultant.

"My concern is that in the rush to bring information to people in whatever form they want, it could actually end up backfiring."

New marketing technologies are playing a much larger role than they did in the 2004 campaign, with parties trying everything from blogs and podcasts to text messaging and viral advertising.

"So many young people today are hooked into the new media. This is the way they get their news and their information," said Tory MP Monte Solberg, who writes his own blog. "It's really important to have an entire package of new media options to reach those folks."

The parties say new technologies are helpful with keeping core supporters in the loop, but their ability to convert other voters remains unproven.

Here's a primer to the new media being used in the campaign:

Text messaging: For the second time, the parties are using text messaging to connect with young and future voters. They can sign up with the party of their choice to receive news by cellphone, and to participate in mobile polls.

Podcasts: The Conservative Party is first out of the gate with podcasts, which allow users to download audio and/or video files to an MP3 player such as an iPod. The podcasts feature ads and speeches by Stephen Harper.

Viral advertising: The new holy grail for advertisers such as Nike and Burger King is to create ads so popular that they "go viral," getting passed on from person to person over the Internet.

The NDP released two viral ads last Thursday, through e-mails sent to 30,000 supporters. By Monday, the ads had been viewed by 16,000 people who were not on the original list. One supporter passed the ad on to 98 friends.

Blogs: Blogs established themselves as an important political tool when Howard Dean used his to help raise $40-million (U.S.) in his 2003 run at the U.S. presidency.

Mr. Duceppe is the only Canadian leader with his own blog, though the party says it is written by a staff member based on conversations with Mr. Duceppe.

It's also the only party blog that allows users to post feedback, not a good idea, according to Mr. Broadhead. Bloc spokesman Eric Côté says that while some negative comments are allowed, there is a screening process.

He also frowns on the Conservative Party's Tories' election blog because it breaks a cardinal blogging rule by not disclosing who writes it.

Perhaps the most talked-about blog of the campaign is by Scott Feschuk, a speech writer for Liberal Leader Paul Martin, who updates his humorous and irreverent blog several times a day.

While some NDP candidates have blogs, the party opted against a general election blog, because it didn't want something that didn't look sincere, said party spokesman Brad Lavigne.

"The Web world is a particularly savvy one and I think visitors can smell bogus blogs a mile away," Mr. Lavigne said.