Conservative Party web campaignI guess it would be remiss of me not to comment on the new Conservative campaign encouraging people to become ‘friends’ of the party by donating as little as £1 (given my interest in political campaign technique). So what you might say? What difference will £1 make? Indeed what difference would 1,000 people donating £1 make? After all £1,000 isn’t a great deal of money in the greater scheme of things.

The importance of the new campaign though isn’t in the amount asked for, but rather the fact that it acts as a departure from traditional approaches to fundraising and an embrace of the kind of web-based campaigning we’ve seen in American politics post-Howard Dean (a style of campaigning that has come into its own under Obama).

There are many who argue the campaigns of the future will centre around the internet and that traditional campaign techniques such as door-to-door leafletting, canvassing, and direct mail will fade from view and become instead the subject of history books. Of course such a view of future campaigning is misguided; the web, just like direct mail in its heyday, is simply another (albeit incredibly effective) tool in the campaigner’s box of tricks.

The web allows political campaigners to bring vast numbers of people together at relatively low cost for a common purpose. It implicitly acknowledges the power of numbers; the force of many small voices combined. £1 might not be a lot, but those that give £1 will likely give more when asked again in the future. The £1 donation isn’t simply a donation, it’s a symbol of an individuals commitment to the cause they’re donating to (in this case the Conservative Party). And a carefully nurtured commitment can last a lifetime.

£1 might not seem like a lot, but make no mistake, with this request for ‘friends’ the Conservative Party is changing the face of political campaigning as it is understood in the UK.