Labour Party in 4m drive for members
The Labour Party is offering group membership in its latest recruitment campaign, launched this week through newly-appointed direct marketing agency Brann London.
The 4m drive to staunch the party’s declining membership includes sending thousands of mail-outs to prospective members, targeted through bought-in lifestyle data. The offer of combined membership for families and households is aimed at boosting numbers.
The mailings are timed to reach prospective members in the run-up to elections for local councils, the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the European Parliament. The mail-outs will be followed by party members visiting the homes of people targeted in the campaign.
A Labour spokeswoman says: “It is the first time we have done this in an integrated campaign. Previously we have followed up a mail-out by telephone, for example, but not in such a focused way. This is about being healthy and regenerating membership.”
However, she refuses to say how many people will be targeted, or how many new members the party is seeking. Labour has lost 54,000 members since the 1997 General Election. But it claims to have signed up 40,000, giving a net total of about 390,000 members compared with the 405,000 at the time of the election.
The mail-outs feature Labour’s new Centenary logo and state Labour’s achievements in its 100-year history. Brann won the Labour account from Evans Hunt Scott earlier this year (MW January 7).
