A blank Cheque for John Howard

This is the rough-cut of an ad for the Australian election.

It's designed to show my skills as an advertising copywriter to potential clients - mainly ad agencies.

It's aim is not so much to demonstrate creativity - in style and format it's simply a classic political ad.

Instead it shows my ability to isolate what we call in marketing a Unique Selling Proposition.

Essentially, that's the feature of your product or service that differentiates it from others on the market. Its hottest selling point.

It's the answer to the question: "But why should I buy YOUR product instead of the others?"

Or, in this case, why should I NOT buy it, since this is an ad AGAINST the ruling party.

Political parties are an interesting challenge, because there are so many things you could focus on.

But if I were running the campaign of one of Australia's opposition parties, the main point I would use to attack the government would be the one raised in this ad.

And that is: after all the radical and unpopular things the ruling Liberal Party has done already, if we vote for them yet ANOTHER time, they will surely take that as a message that they can get away with virtually ANYTHING. Who knows what radical things they will bring in next time?

The electorate has been so angered by the government's WORKCHOICES workplace reforms, that the incumbents' poll ratings are at an all-time low. If we voted for them EVEN AFTER THAT, they would take that as a signal that they could bring in changes that are more radical still.

A print campaign would also have the space to highlight an additional aspect.

It could be argued that Workchoices is already more of an ideologically-driven 'pet project' of the Liberal Party than something good for the country.

If they succeed in this election, they know it will probably be their last go for awhile. It's therefore likely they would 'go for broke' and bring in a wish-list of highly conservative policies while they have the chance.

* * *

You will notice that the ad is neither 30 or 60 seconds. That's because it's made not for TV but for the internet. You should always use your medium to maximum advantage.

* * *

The ad does not necessarily reflect my own opinions, which are private. I thought about a range of possible strategies for the various parties and this one provided the most compelling advertising message.

FURTHER INFO:
adman.for.sale.s@gmail.com
Ideally, put the word "copy" in the subject line.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Howard
• Election
• Australia
• Liberals
• Government
• Politics
• IR
• Workchoices
• Iraq
• Advertising
• Lies
• Terrorism
• Tax

[0Corona0Extra0]

You realise that this is fucking stupid right?

[Trontheim6]

Fuck off!

Liberals all the way!