DESPITE winning the last general and local government elections in quick succession last year, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is already in the early stages of preparation for further polls, according to Delano Seivwright, vice -president of the JLP affiliate Generation 2000 (G2K).

Information technology is likely to play an even bigger role for the JLP in the next elections, following what the party says was its successful use in bringing the party to power last year.

Seivwright recently disclosed details of the JLP's use of television and radio advertisements to boost its ratings and to discredit the People's National Party (PNP), then in government for 18 years.

He said in the run-up to the elections last September, a public relations team from G2K "religiously recorded every TV and radio newscast"; and that they were assisted by "the bungled handling of the matter by the PNP".

Aided by the Trafigura scandal in October 2006, and after thoroughly scrutinising all the recordings, the G2K team came up with two ads, one of which was the infamous 'don't draw my tongue' ad featuring former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

"There is no more powerful political ad than using your opponent as the star of your ad campaign," Seivwright said, noting that it was "the ultimate cock mouth kill cock strategy thrown back at them (the PNP)".

He was speaking in Kingston at the launch of Masscommagazine, an e-magazine and online resource focusing on the media, public relations, advertising and marketing in Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Of interest was that JLP general secretary Karl Samuda was uneasy about running the 'don't draw my tongue' ad. "Mr Samuda, a decent man, was like, "No, I'm not sure, it's not right", and we (the G2K members) were like, "Yes, this is what we need to run now", Seivwright said.

Samuda himself was featured in an ad campaign by the PNP in a previous election, when he made scathing remarks about then JLP leader Edward Seaga. Samuda made the comments when he had temporarily switched support to the PNP.
Seivwright said the group also launched a 'Bruce revealed' advertising campaign in the summer of 2006, to increase public recognition of the party's leader, now prime minister.

In this campaign some 292 ads were placed over nine radio stations, and 72 television slots over two stations.

The JLP also assembled a group of G2K 'techies' led by Trevor Forrest with the task of overhauling the JLP's website to appeal to middle class, upwardly mobile 18-to 35 -ear -lds.

There was a channel on the video sharing site Youtube featuring JLP ads, as well as presence on social networking sites such as Facebook and Hi5, Seivwright said.

He said the 'draw my tongue' ad was officially ranked in Youtube's top 10 most talked about videos under the news and politics category, with 75,000 views.

The JLP website was even more successful, he said, with over 800,000 unique visitors and 10 million hits.
It seems G2K intends to use technology even more in the future.

"We are currently in the early stages of planning for our next campaign, whether it is this year or in the next four years, Seivwright said.

He indicated that the JLP's messages would be targeted to cellphone users.

"Every Jamaican has one and we intend to fully utilise that technology to ensure we reach every Jamaican," he added.

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