Election Preparedness Playbook

PART TWO: PREPARING FOR POSSIBLE SCENARIOS

In the run up to a general election many corporate communications and public affairs teams put their time and energy into preparing reach out emails and briefing notes for the incoming cohort of relevant Ministers. This way they can be quick off the draw to issue meeting requests to Ministers and maximise their ability to influence policy formation during the Government’s first 100 days. Alongside this, many teams dedicate time to a deep dive of Prospective Parliamentary Candidate research, so they have clear line of sight on who might be elected in the constituencies in which their organisation is based.

In addition to these best practice actions, we also recommend preparing for some of the more challenging scenarios that could emerge.

Being prepared for the following five key scenarios can help ensure your organisation achieves its comms objectives, reaches the right audiences, and carefully navigates political complexities.

1. Major political announcements. Being aware of when major political announcements are likely to take place can help you plan your communications programmes so they don’t clash and don’t get lost in the noise of intense political news days. In the worst case scenario, a business announces an initiative on a strategic issue such as sustainability, with positive intentions, on the same day that a political party announces their policy that would require business to go further, resulting in the business being included in media coverage as an example of a brand not doing enough to achieve net zero. Political monitoring and intelligence can provide insights into when these big announcements are likely to be scheduled and can be crucial in protecting reputations. As it isn’t always possible to predict major announcements, and the timing can change at the last minute, we recommend taking an agile approach to communications planning. Make it possible to change the date of your announcements, should there be a clash with a major speech that could raise the kinds of risks covered here, with minimal impact on resources and operations. In practice this could mean investing more in digital communications around an announcement rather than in-person events, so that the date can more easily be changed with less budget/resources lost.
2. When your organisation comes under pressure from politicians to back them or host them giving a photo opportunity or speech. Each situation is different. Taking senior counsel is vital for thinking through how allowing a politician to speak at your business would be perceived by staff, investors, customers and other stakeholders, and whether the risks of alienating an audience would outweigh the opportunities. Most businesses choose to avoid being viewed as being politically aligned with any particular party, as they don’t want to alienate any of their internal or external stakeholders. However, at Lodestone we have supported some businesses who were very clear that they wanted to host a major political speech, from a particular stakeholder, as the announcement would support a policy intervention that the business had been calling for and as their values aligned. The stars don’t always align in this way. We have also supported corporate communications functions who needed to roll back plans to host a major political speech, which could have risked alienating other stakeholders, after it had been agreed by one site/business unit without corporate level oversight and sign off. Ensuring all internal functions work closely together and share information on plans, with corporate communications playing a central coordinating role, is crucial to ensure opportunities are maximised and situations like the latter are avoided. Issuing guidance internally on the structure, processes and behaviours expected in the run up to an election, including where central corporate sign off is required is advisable.
3. When your organisation comes under pressure from employees to take a particular stance on an issue that has come up during a political campaign. Taking senior counsel is vital for thinking through how taking a stance on a politically sensitive issue would be perceived by staff, investors, customers, and other stakeholders, and whether the risks outweigh the opportunities. At Lodestone we have a tried and tested model that assists decision making on the issues on which to take a stance, how this would be perceived and reputational risk, which is applied and reviewed through senior counsel to Election Preparedness Working Groups.
4. When your organisation gets attacked by a politician during a speech or media opportunity. Enhanced media monitoring and being able to draw on political intelligence can help organisations be prepared. Refreshed crisis comms packs and having reactive statements ready, for any high alert risks can help aid rapid response and rebuttal.
5. When your organisation is associated with external political interference and misinformation campaigns – from deep fakes to fake news. While the risk of your brand getting tied up in misinformation campaigns may be low, it is best to be prepared. With the rapid development of AI and cyber threats, especially in the context of international conflicts, none of us can be certain exactly how political interference and misinformation campaigns could play out. Enhanced media monitoring and being able to draw on political intelligence can help organisations be prepared. Refreshed crisis comms processes and protocols and having reactive statements ready, for any high alert risks can help aid rapid response and rebuttal.

→ The Lodestone Election Hub provides comprehensive information on the General Election including prospective parliamentary candidates, polling and analysis, and current and new electoral boundaries mapping.

Partnering with Survation, we conducted a poll of 8,205 adults on their voting intentions and 6,170 on topical issues, carrying out MRP modelling to analyse the results of the poll for each of the 632 parliamentary constituencies in Great Britain, based on boundaries for the 2024 General Election.

Viewers can explore prospective parliamentary candidate information, constituency voting intention, seat prediction, tactical voting insights, policy prioritisation, trust on policies, engagement with Labour’s Five Missions, and more.

For a detailed insight into this and other results, visit Lodestone’s Election Hub here.