Tuesday 23rd March 2010

NotMums this time but the Over 50's - Saga Generation to put the three main party leaders in the hot seat

Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg will all take part in a series of video webchats for Saga over the course of the coming weeks.

The leaders will each hold a web chat, produced and filmed by broadcast specialists markettiers4dc, the first of which to take place this coming Friday with David Cameron in front of an invited studio audience.

The major parties have recognised the electoral importance of the Saga Generation and agreed to answer questions from today's over 50s. The ‘Saga Generation’ is likely to make up the majority of adults going to the polling booths come the General Election. Earlier this year, members of the Saga-Populus Panel gave their opinions on a wide range of issues and helped create 'The Saga Generation Manifesto'. The three main Party leaders responded to the manifesto in the March edition of Saga Magazine.

For the first time older voters are likely to make up the majority of adults going to the polling booths come the General Election. 63% of the over 55s say they are certain to vote compared with just 21% of those aged 18-24 or 37% of those aged 25-34. Saga Magazine readers and customers are even more committed, as a poll of 14,000 of them showed 80% saying they were certain to vote.

Emma Soames, editor-at-large, Saga Magazine commented: “The Saga Generation will have a decisive influence on the outcome of the coming General Election, we are therefore delighted that the party leaders should take some time to answer their questions. They are active citizens – they may no longer man the barricades as they might have done in the 60s – but they will vote in their millions.”

The first web chat will be broadcast live on saga.co.uk as well as content provided to third party news sites to carry. markettiers4dc will also be handling all of the broadcast media relations prior to each chat taking place. markettiers4dc editorial MD, Helen Moore said “Saga is a very longstanding client and we are absolutely delighted to be involved in this project – a real coup for Saga and an incredibly high profile campaign for our agency.”

Click here to view the webchat with Nick Clegg
Click here to view the webchat with David Cameron
Click here to view the webchat with Gordon Brown