Monday, October 08, 2007

Who is paying for the Blogging Tory ads and why?

Ads on election prediction project link to the Blogging Tories website. http://www.electionprediction.org/2007_on/r_9.html Click on "Dion of the Dead" and you are directed to http://www.bloggingtories.ca/ That begs the question; who is paying for these ads and why?


"Outspoken blogger received Tory contract The Harper government gave a
contract for communications consulting on Parliament Hill, worth up to $20,000,
to an outspoken Conservative Internet blogger.

Privy Council Office records show Joan Tintor, author of a popular weblog or "blog," in June received the one-year contract for "communications professional services not elsewhere specified."

....

“In his new book, Harper's Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power, party strategist Tom Flanagan notes the Tories' innovative use of blogs in the 2006 election campaign.

He cites in particular two members of the Blogging Tories, Steve Jank and Stephen Taylor, who write highly partisan blogs on federal politics.

Mr. Flanagan writes that campaign manager Doug Finley "appointed people to monitor the blogosphere and to get out stories that were not quite ready for the mainstream media."

These bloggers "amplify and diversify our message," he wrote.”



http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=0eaa136e-6faf-4245-ac4a-6fd84cf8f174


The ad reads in full “Dion of the Dead Conservative majority? A New and improved Canada ”

I do not know where the title comes from but this seems to be candidate


“Dion of the Living Dead

The Liberal leader is fighting against new worries that he's not up to the job

JOHN GEDDES October 1, 2007


http://www.macleans.ca/canada/features/article.jsp?content=20071001_110045_110045


By the way, are they charged by the hit.

Update: The "Dion of the dead" ad is still there. For example: http://www.electionprediction.org/2007_on/r_sw.html However, I now find a second ad linking to the Blogging Tories. This one is one is upfront though. The ad reads in full "The Blogging Tories proudly Canadian proudly conservative bloggingtories.ca." For example: http://www.electionprediction.org/2007_on/riding/024.php Finally, ads are found on other websites such as Calgary Grit http://www.calgarygrit.blogspot.com/ When you are over at Grit's site be sure to hit on the link.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Koby,

I just clicked on the first link of this post and could not find "Dion of the Dead" ?? Am I missing something or has it been removed?

Red Tory said...

Sassy — Click on some of the specific riding info links. That's where I found it.

They pay a flat amount for exposure (budget is variable for that, but it's not terribly expensive) and then additional for each click-through based on some sort of "cost per click" or CPC (ironically named, huh?) basis.

Red Tory said...

Koby — I’m thinking that given they pay per clickthrough, if you were an asshole and somewhat determined, it would be possible to simply click on the ads repeatedly. Whether in situ or by clicking on these shortcuts:

Ad1, Ad2, Ad3, Ad4, Ad5

There are probably a lot more. I just took those as examples.

Borges said...

And yet here in Québec we have our own conservative demagogue, Mr. Dumont, telling his loyal militant bloggers that they're wasting their time and should do more concrete work. This is of course after a scandal erupted involving the improper conduct and blogs, but still, interesting to see that the Conservateurs of Canada respect the blogs.