With an election date secured, Australia now awaits an avalance of political advertising hitting our screens. In this five part series, creatives weigh in on what makes great election advertising. This article first appeared in AdNews print - if you want to read it hot off the press you better subscribe here.
There are so many valid ways to answer this question: Total give-up-your-life and the idea that you’ll ever get even four hours of uninterrupted sleep again commitment to the cause. That’s important. So is the idea of doing creatively original work. Sadly, so many election ads are cookie-cutters. The vast majority feel like they’ve come flying off some sort of political ad assembly line without capturing the candidate or message with any degree of artfulness or originality.
To me, there is one bedrock element that all great election advertising is built upon. it’s easy to say, but damn hard to get at, the truth. Go ahead.
Dare attempt to reposition your candidate into something she’s not. You’ll fail. Come up with some audacious concept that you think is visually breakthrough, but ultimately fits the party leader like somebody else’s old shoe. Voters will sniff it out and reject it instantly.
All great election ads must render the essence of a leader or the core of a message in a wholly authentic way. Truth comes first.
As a boxer, canoeist and former river guide, Justin Trudeau, has an undeniable physical energy, so in almost every ad we created for him, we leveraged his vigor. We shot him on the move, striding purposefully toward camera. In another piece, he hiked up a famous mountain trail in British Columbia. What voters saw, especially in comparison to his older, more static opponents, was a candidate they felt would bring a new kind of energy to Canada. Tat’s proven to be, well, true.