The Current Situation of the House of Lords
The House of Lords recently was challenged with negative publicity after the scandalous video of the former Lord and Chairman of Committee in the Lords, John Sewel, who was caught sniffing cocaine and indulging in immoral acts with three prostitutes according to the report of The Sun (Moyes, 2015).
The scandalous report was followed with news questioning the travel allowances of about 20 peers in the House of Lords ranging from GBP 100,000 – GBP 200,000 each for five years even if they do not actively participate in the debate (Swinford, Wilkinson, and Leet, 2015).
Some defended that they are regularly present to vote and that their travel distance by plane and the hotel accommodation stay just make the allowance enough, while another one said that the Lord prefers to participate when there is a sensible discussion in the debate than always talk nonsensical like the others who actively participate in the debate (Swinford, Wilkinson, and Leet, 2015).
The House of Lords have always gained respect to the citizens due to its legislative roles and codes of moral conduct. However, with the recent negative news about the members of the legislative body and the House of Lords per se, it has the risk of losing good reputation and image. Therefore, it is necessary to take action and create a positive publicity to overshadow the recent negative news and to maintain the public’s confidence and respect to the chamber.
Proposed Advertising Objectives
The main objectives of the advertisements of the House of Lords is to maintain and further enhance the respect and confidence of the public to the chamber, to educated the public about the importance of the pool of the current members, and to educate the public about its accomplishments.
The advertisements should also convey to the public that the House of Lords upholds its code of conduct of personal honor, integrity, selflessness, accountability, objectivity, honesty, leadership, and openness as provided by the Parliament (2015) . It must also help communicate its vision, plans, and contribution for a more progressive, peaceful, and responsive government of United Kingdom.
Advertising Strategy
Target Audience
As a government entity, it is important for the House of Lords to communicate to its fellow government entities including agencies, local governments, as well as to the other important branches of the government such as the Prime Minister’s office, the House of Commons, and the Supreme.
More importantly, the chamber must communicate to its constituents including the general public, the business sector, the socio-civic organizations and all other sectors. It is also important that the advertisement will reach the church, foreign investors, international government organizations, and other governments in the world through international media.
Positioning statement
The advertisements must position the House of Lords as the best upper house among all governments in the world highlighting its achievements and contribution through the years, adherence to its code of conduct, and fulfillment of its responsibilities.
The target audience should remember the House of Lords as a chamber with integrity, responsive and action oriented, accomplished, respectable, and with world class leadership. Thus, we can state the position statement below as:
The House of Lords fulfills the legislative function with utmost integrity and is caring and responsive to the needs of its constituents. The chamber has been the engine of the enactment of the best laws in the world for the welfare of the United Kingdom and ensures that the members function with dignity, personal honor and respect. The Lords provide world class leadership and make up the most excellent upper house around the globe.
Message Strategy
The House of Lords as a government entity needs to communicate to its constituent using both the appeal to emotion and reason. The advertisement needs to convey the unique and superior qualities of the chamber against other upper houses in the world as well as its passion and selfless service to the nation. Below is the proposed message strategy.
House of Lords, compassionate, dignified, selfless, and responsive Creating laws for UK’s world leadership
Media Strategy
The advertisements of the House of Lords will use television, radio, internet, print, pamphlets, newsletters for the government agencies, billboards strategically placed near the office of the House of Lords and municipality halls, and press releases and events.
The television advertisement will be 30 seconds ad showing the pictures of the House of Lords and its members stating that through the years, there is a chamber that created laws to serve the interest of the public/constituents naming the five most important laws created in the decade that had global impact. Such laws are shown in words while presenting photos that relate to it. For example, an important law in agriculture could show photos of fruit, vegetable, and animal farms while an important labor law will have complimentary photos of professionals in the office.
After presenting the five most important laws created/approved in the decade, the ad will show another photos of House of Lords and members with photos or videos of how some Lords who violated code of conduct were eliminated from the chamber. The ad will end with the message strategy of House of Lords, compassionate, dignified, selfless, and responsive Creating laws for UK’s world leadership.
The radio advertisement is also similar only that it does not have the visual effects. However, all the voice over and the sound effects in the television ads of House of Lords will also be in the radio advertisement. To penetrate the internet viewers, the television ad will also be uploaded in the House of Lord’s website, play it in the online media organizations, social media networks, and You Tube.
The print advertisement will show the best photo of the House of Lords and the photos of top five accomplished laws and a picture showing how the chamber eliminated the members that violated the code of conduct. The master print will then have the message, House of Lords, compassionate, dignified, selfless, and responsive Creating laws for UK’s world leadership. The print advertisement will have the same content and pictures as the billboard.
The pamphlets will provide pictures and information about the House of Lords and will indicate the message strategy in the front page of the pamphlet. The newsletter will publish the plans and ongoing processes and actions in the House of Lords. The press releases will state the positions of the House of Lords about the current issues and the laws that the chamber currently approve.
Media Plan Budget
The new advertising concept and plan will run for three months for the purpose of rebuilding the image of the House of Lords and to regain the respect and confidence of the government agencies and entities, constituents, private sector, foreign investors, and the international community. A budget of GBP 5 million can be enough for the three months multi- media advertisement of the company.
The television advertisement budget will account for 50 percent or GBP 2.2 million. About GBP 200,000 will be allocated for its production while the amount of GBP 2 million will be allocated for its airing for three months airing of the advertisement with an average of 9-10 airings per day in the local and international channels.
The radio advertisement’s budget will be GBP 1.3 million of which GBP 100, 000 will be allocated for production, and about GBP 1.2 million will be used for the airing of the radio ad at an average of 6 stations per day for three months. Online ad placement will have a budget of GBP 500,000 to have four ad placements per day for 90 days.
About GBP 400,000 will be allocated for print media in which GBP 50,000 will be used for ad production while GBP 250,000 will be for ad placement three times a week for a total of 12 newspapers and perhaps, magazines. The pamphlet production and distribution will have GBP 100,000 budget while the newsletter will have GBP 50,000 budget. The billboards will have GBP 300,000 budget of which GBP 25,000 will be allocated for its production and the rest for billboard placement fees. The twice a month for three months press events and releases will have a total budget of GBP 150,000.
The House of Lords can obtain the funds from the allocated public relations budget which the national government provides to all government agencies and entities. Aside from the budget, the advertising and publicity committee should be very much concern of the correct staffing in the casting and implementation of the advertisements as well as the right scheduling and timing of the ad placements.
The production stage of all advertisements should last for maximum of two months while the committee is also arranging the right scheduling for the ad placements. The committee on advertisements and publicity should also ensure that the advertisements are high quality, not only in content, but also in the sound, videos, and pictures. The committee should also be mindful of the best media organizations to place the ads and consider the organizations with high number of viewers, readers, and listeners.
Creative Content
Television Ad
The television ad will start with sound effects with a video of the House of Lords and its members. Voices over will then say For more than century, there is a house that has always defended the interest of the people. The ad will show few photos from the ancient to the current House of Lords.
The voice over then will continue, and made the best laws in the world. Then the ad will show related videos and texts concerning the recent enacted laws as stated by the Legislation (2016) website of the UK government which include the Control Traffic Order 2016, the AA49 and A40 Trunk Roads Order 2016, the Parking Places and Waiting Restrictions Order 2016, the Education Workforce Council Regulations 2016, and Non-Domestic Rating Order 2016. The sound/background music is continuously played.
The ad will then show a video clip how the chamber removed members that violated the code of conduct, and the background music continues to play. The ad will end with a voice over saying the message strategy, House of Lords, compassionate, dignified, selfless, and responsive Creating laws for UK’s world leadership.
Radio Ad
The Radio Ad will use the background music of the television ad from start to ending and state the following voice over:
Voice over 1- Female: For more than century, there is a house that has always defended the interest of the people and made the best laws in the world.
Voice over 2- Male: Control Traffic Order 2016, the AA49 and A40 Trunk Roads Order 2016, the Parking Places and Waiting Restrictions Order 2016, the Education Workforce Council Regulations 2016, and Non-Domestic Rating Order 2016
Voice over 3- Male and Female: House of Lords, compassionate, dignified, selfless, and responsive Creating laws for UK’s world leadership.
Print Ad
The print ad will have the photo of House of Lord as the main photo with sub photos related to the recent legislated acts. Each respective photo will have the title of the laws as stated by the Legislation (2016) including Control Traffic Order 2016, the AA49 and A40 Trunk Roads Order 2016, the Parking Places and Waiting Restrictions Order 2016, the Education Workforce Council Regulations 2016, and Non-Domestic Rating Order 2016.
The last sub photos will be the elimination of the code of conduct violating member from the chamber. The message strategy of House of Lords, compassionate, dignified, selfless, and responsive Creating laws for UK’s world leadership will be placed at the bottom side of the print ad.
Internet
The content and videos of the Television ad will be the one to be used or online advertising in different online media organizations, social media networks, and YouTube.
Pamphlet
The front cover will have a big font size of House of Lords in the center. At the bottom center of the front page the words Compassionate, Dignified, Selfless, and Responsive shall be written in vertical sequence. The inside pages of the pamphlet shall include photos and information about the House of Lord’s brief History, Roles and Duties, Code of Conduct, recently enacted laws, pending bills, and key officers.
Newsletter
The newsletter will provide photos and news about the House of Letters about its activities and other developments that concern the chamber. It will be the medium to place its press releases about its positions on certain issues, developments of the bills pass and law enacted, update on any judicial functions, and short term and long term plans.
It will also serve a reminder to the government entities about the scheduled activities of the House of Lords that the other agencies may be involved as well.
Press Releases
The press releases are effective means to overcome negative publicity confronting any organization especially if the press releases are supported with facts, actions, and undeniable achievements. Press releases are also effective ways of building image.
In the case of the House of Lords it will be very advisable to create press releases announcing actions about the current pressing concerns in the United Kingdom such as low economic and productivity growth, small salary increase, higher number of unemployed citizens in some areas, and presence of fiscal woes (Economic Help, 2015). Below are examples of action-oriented press releases that can remove the chamber’s negative publicity to the minds of the people.
The House of Lords yesterday approved the House Bill 3482 Economic Stimulus Act of 2015 mandating the government to provide economic stimulus during slow economic growth through infrastructure developments. The parliament believes that the government’s higher involvement in the infrastructure building will help ease high unemployment rate in recession prone areas.
The law states that the Prime Minister is allowed to announce and release a minimum GBP 500 million for infrastructure development during slow economic growth as a means to curb unemployment rate and to cut fiscal woes.
The law also mandates that the plan infrastructure development should strictly follow the guidelines of sustainability through usage and promotion of energy efficient materials and equipment, non-hazardous materials, and architectural and construction design that will provide spaces for ornamental and fruit-bearing plants and trees and vegetables.
About 90 percent of the House of Lords voted in favor of the law while only 10 percent were against its enactment. The Lords who are in favor of it said that the Economic Stimulus Law will provide urgent solutions to the cities and areas with high unemployment rates. The law will also enable the government to engage in a winning investment that can benefit the future generations.
Those who against the law believed that the UK government is incapable to release the required amount due to fiscal woes. They are concern that the insufficient funds for investment may stop the work in the middle of developing the infrastructure projects. Another Lord, however, argued that the current national budget shows sufficient funds to carry on infrastructure investment as economic stimulus.
The Economic Stimulus Law specified that the government should invest on two year infrastructure developments that can deliver yields to the government in five years. The Committee on Infrastructure Development has started the three-months planning for the new infrastructure project today.
The second press release can be about the salary increase.
The House of Lords today approved the House Bill 5436 Salary Adjustment Act of 2015 seeking for the GBP 10 salary increase per day for minimum wage earners during economic slowdown in a thrust to improve their quality of life. The minimum wage earners are the most vulnerable in times of slow economic growth due to layoff incidents that may affect some of their family members.
The law was approved after the Prime Minister confirmed new trade relations of the United Kingdom with the emerging markets that can significantly improve the country’s economic growth for three to five years. Sixty percent of the Lords were quite optimistic of the new measures on economic growth that they voted for GBP 10/day increase.
The members who voted in favor of the law said that it is the duty of the House of Lords to protect and improve the lives of the many particularly of the vulnerable sectors of the society through legislation. It is pertinent to find ways to achieve economic growth and provide the needed comfort to the people.
The Lords who voted against the enactment of the law are concerned that the business sector may be unable to cope with the higher cost of labor and hence could result to closure of some companies. Other Lords, however, were confident that the new trade relations will bring satisfactory profits to various industries of the country.
The House of Lords is set to implement the salary increase three days after the approval. The Prime Minister is also currently negotiating more investments and trade relations with other regions specifically in South East Asia, West Africa, Brazil, South Korea, and Qatar. The Prime Minister and the House of Lords are confident that the resilience and growing economy of the said countries can provide higher profit to the United Kingdom companies.
The chamber could not delay the trade opportunities with the new markets with the several unfounded and underdeveloped resources they have. The United Kingdom’s government and private sectors can work in partnership with the said countries and regions to develop their vast resources and accumulate income through profit sharing.
The main industries that are expected to support the salary increase include mining, renewable energy, technology, and biotechnology. Higher growth opportunities in insurance, two wheeled vehicles, construction and architecture, and marine resources industries in the said countries signal higher profits for UK companies planning to operate and are already operating in the said regions and countries.
The UK industries will bank on good trade relations and take advantage of the quality products offered at lower prices from these raw materials-source countries. They will also be the new and competitive markets for clothing, personal care, and home care products. The expected gains will be the supporting means for the minimum wage earners.
References
Moyes, Stephen. 2015. Lord Coke: Top peer’s drug binges with £200 prostitutes. The Sun. Retrieved from http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6560352/Baron-John-Sewel-drug-binges-with-prostitutes.html
Swinford, Steven, Wilkinson, Michael, and Leet, Dillon. 2015. Scandal of the 'silent peers' who claim more than £1.6m in expenses despite minimal participation in House of Lords. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11771859/Revealed-The-silent-peers-who-have-claimed-nearly-2m.html
Parliament. 2015. Code of Conduct for Members of the House of Lords. Retrieved from http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/house-of-lords-commissioner-for-standards-/code-of-conduct-for-the-house-of-lords/code-of-conduct-for-members-of-the-house-of-lords/
Legislation. 2016. New Legislation. Retrieved from http://www.legislation.gov.uk/
Economic Help. 2015. Problems Facing the United Kingdom in 2015. Retrieved from http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/13954/economics/problems-facing-uk-economy-in-2015/
