PR specialists to play a significant role in upcoming Lithuanian general election

Some parties say they are spending fairly little for advertising campaigns. While others plan to splash out several million litas, the Lithuanian daily Lietuvos Žinios writes on Tuesday.

Juozas Olekas, campaign manager for the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, said the party decided to consult a long-term partner – the Strategic Communication Center.

"Key decisions will be made by the party's central election headquarters, and we'll discuss something with this company," he said, adding that the party would definitely opt for media and online advertising as well as advertising on the radio and TV.

"But this time we'll be more modest than before. We'll spend 1.5-2 million litas (EUR 0.43-0.57 million) on the election campaign," Olekas said.

Raimundas Alekna, executive secretary of the largest ruling party Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats, said the party's pre-election strategy would focus on highlighting achievements of the incumbent government and Seimas, and politicians who made the achievements would be the best people to present them.

"We can spend a lot of money on advertising on TV, radio or elsewhere, but one might have to do that again in October," the politician said. He added, however, that the party planned to employ PR specialists.

"We plan to spend almost the entire planned budget – around 2.5 million litas – on the election campaign. We will not be saving and will spend everything for the public to be informed about our achievements as much as possible," Alekna said.

According to the Lietuvos Žinios, the Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats plans to use the services of companies New and Gaumina.

Chairman of the Liberal Movement Eligijus Masiulis said besides direct communication with voters, the party was also planning to focus on on-line and traditional media.

"Naturally, without financial support from companies and receiving funding only from the state budget and a little from individual contributors, our opportunities will be limited. The campaign will be short but intense," Masiulis said.

He acknowledged that the party would use PR specialists for certain events.

"Our PR strategy is being designed by our members who came from the advertising business. (…) And when it comes to specific agencies, we have not chosen them yet," Masiulis said. The daily has information that the Liberal Movement might employ specialists from media planning agency Media House.

Meanwhile Donatas Stonys, administrator of the Liberal and Center Union's election headquarters, said it was too early to talk about help of PR specialists but added that the party had no plans to engage any PR companies.

"Heads of the election headquarters, deputies, the party's chairman are key brain centers. Of course, we might consult one company or another, but there'll be no specialists working in the headquarters all the time," Stonys said.

Representatives of the Order and Justice party also say they don’t have a clear plan. Romas Jankauskas of the party said the party's election program was only recently approved. "When we know what our final budget is, then we will decide how to use it in the most effective way. But you won’t buy voters with advertising," he said.

Virginija Baltraitienė, deputy head of the Labor Party's election campaign, said the party would focus on advertising in late summer. "We are advertising ourselves online a little, but the party chairman often expresses his position on various issues. But we'll leave the main focus for the pre-election period," she said.

Lietuvos Žinios claims the Labor Party plans to spend at least a tenth of its budget to pay for services of PR specialists.