Victorian Election Flyers – All About Control
A quick comparison of the flyers being put out by the three major parties in the Victorian state election show how the different parties approach their brand and image. Clearly there are power struggles inside each of the parties for control of the design and it’s interesting that with the three main parties it varies from no to control to total control from ‘head office.’ I’ve attempted to use examples from as many seats as I can but there are gaps. If you have any that are interesting email me or leave a comment. I’ll do a post on independents and other parties later in the week so send examples of those through as well.
Labor
The Labor Party’s election material is interesting in that every candidate seems to be doing their own thing with no consistent theme or style. True there appear to pockets of similar design, such as the inner city Melbourne seats are all running with the red and the type writer font. Mainly though the major theme running through Labor material is a lack of clarity and confusing/unreadable type. The type writer font is a good example. I’m fine with the fact they have gone with something distinctive (even if it’s an aggressive look) but it’s not advisable to use the headline font for body text. Especially if you want people to read your main ‘vote for me’ points.
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Second example is Martin Foley in Albert Park who has a lot of things he wants to point out to voters. Unfortunately there are too many points jammed in to make much sense of it and using semi transparent boxes over complex images minimises the readability. Oh and which one is he? It could be clearer…
There has been some advertising centered around Brumby’s image, such as billboards and corflutes, but there is no tying in of this brand with the local Labor candidates.
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Liberal
The Liberal material is the direct opposite of the Labor material in that all the material is exactly the same in every electorate. There is a form letter that is identical in every electorate except for the local candidates name.
The flyer that goes with it is generic and doesn’t mention any local issues just the bigger picture policies. The head office control goes so far as to not even include the local member’s signature, they are all ‘signed’ using a font. Has the Liberal Party got polling that indicates that local issues don’t win votes?
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Greens
The Greens are a mid point between Labor and Liberal in relation to brand control in that they have a distinct style that candidates must use but is adapted to local issues. The flyer that goes out in each electorate is the same except for the picture of the candidate and an inside letter from the candidate about why they are running. There’s not much to say about it other than it’s readable and has a slight contemporary edge with angles and colour choice. Basically it’s a little dull but does the job. They are obviously trying to build upon their success in the Federal election and want to bring those who voted for them federally to vote for them in the state too.
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***************** This is the bolding issue in the Liberal Party flyer that Tim mentioned in the comments.
You forgot to mention the fact in the flyer that went out to every Victorian household (front page is shown above) Had a clear bolding mistake. I don’t know the technical term for it… But if you still have it you’ll see it in Mary Wooldridge’s text. So simple yet so telling.
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1. The Fiona Richardson image with the tram and 2 Northcote High School students is engaging but while she HAS worked for the school, this IS election material. Did the students & the school give permission for it to be used for electioneering?? And if these same students had posed with the Liberal or Greens candidates would they have been reprimanded for using the school uniform for political purposes?
2. The Brumby photo has a soft facial image but each of his grey hairs has been articulated and highlighted. Perhaps they thought it made him look distinguished but in real life you only see in this detail when you are 8 cm from a persons face. Not smart advertising in my view.
@Tim: I’ll add a picture of the bolding mistake to the article so people can see what you are talking about. That is the kind of mistake that happens with many redrafts of text right on the printing deadline. I wouldn’t be too harsh about that. I would say however that the inside of the Liberal’s flyer is near impossible to read because it’s got so much going on. I would be harsher about that.
@Allie: I was going to mention the photoshopping work done on Brumby’s image, just because of the uproar that surrounded the photoshopping in the recent UK election. I don’t have an objection to photoshopping images to make them ‘pop’ a bit but in this context it takes a different meaning.
I think the key here for the Greens Party material is where you say they “want to bring those who voted for them federally to vote for them in the state too”.
There is a lot of research that shows people vote on different issues State/Federal, and someone pissed off with Gillard/Rudd may be happy with Brumby (or vice versa).
So, the main aim of the Greens Party is to keep a relationship alive with all of the people who voted for them Federally. This also explains the identical slogans, but on a design level, the consistency of the brand is a major issue – the Greens Party federally has a much better profile than Greg Barber’s Greens Party in Victoria.
Cheers
A