Life’s better with Colman, Prentis and Varley: the Conservative party and political advertising, 1957–9

Abstract The Conservative party's 1959 general election victory followed an unprecedented twenty-seven-month pre-election advertising campaign. By September’s start of the official election campaign, the party was 8 per cent ahead in the polls, having been 13 per cent behind prior to the advertising blitz. Yet commentators, both at the time and since, have been reluctant to ascribe victory to the campaign. While accepting that many factors combined to produce this historic victory, this article takes a renewed look at the campaign pursued by Colman, Prentis and Varley. In its pursuit of a target demographic; in its iterative agency/client relationship; in its reactivity and flexibility; in its creativity and aggression; and in its length and spend, this was not simply a first in British election campaigning history but shaped the narrative of the election campaign.