Talkback: Election brings out best of negativity

The adage that oppositions never win elections, governments only lose them would have been ringing in the ears of Labour Party strategists when they dropped their positive branding campaign like a hot potato.

Gone are the powder puff billboards showing images of a baby metaphorically supported by the likes of more nurses and child support. Labour is now dedicated to dismantling Don Brash and National.

The winner of this election will not necessarily be the party that can best brand itself. Rather, it has turned into a contest of which can best label its opponent.

Last election, National could land no punches. In its first three years, Labour had largely escaped from being negatively pigeonholed.

Helen Clark's brand was mainstream New Zealand. Labour was perceived as the sensible voice of the majority with a heart, an independent mind, an ear for classical music, a liking for the great outdoors, and a love for the country. National couldn't counter this.

Labour went into its second term feeling bulletproof. Historians may one day argue that it then proceeded too quickly to unleash a legislative programme aggressively aimed at social liberalisation and wealth redistribution, moving outside the comfort zone of middle New Zealand.

Labour's brand has arguably gone from modern "third way" Tony Blair in style to old-fashioned Labour with a socially liberal edge.

National's red and blue billboards have successfully branded Labour as rather scary. They were the first off the blocks, setting an early tone.

The billboards are so loaded, they're hard to counter. They show National, for the first time in a long time, being able to negatively brand Labour, simply and succinctly. They have been a breakthrough.

National's "telethon" jingle on television undermines this earnest Government as nothing more than laughable. At the same time, Brash is talking up the possibility of bicycle-riding Green Party Cabinet ministers in a future Labour government as a seriously scary prospect.

With National successfully manipulating the minds of voters as to how they should perceive Labour, Clark has been quick to drop the friendly Labour billboards and go straight for Brash's jugular.

The former governor of the Reserve Bank comes with perceived credibility and integrity. With this in mind, Labour Party strategists seem to have taken the Karl Rove (President George Bush's campaign architect) approach of targeting the strengths of one's opponent, not their obvious weaknesses.

Clark's upped the ante, saying at every opportunity that Brash lacks good judgment, can't be trusted and has a hidden agenda. In the first Clark/Brash television debate, Clark went out of her way to negatively spin what Brash was saying, continually interjecting with "What Dr Brash is really saying is ... "

Labour has come out punching harder than ever, labelling Brash coldly. National is now working overtime to soften him.

The branding of each other will only get more bruising in the coming weeks. It will be a fight to the wire, with Parliament's rainbow of political parties in for a big cull. Small-party politicians will take extreme action to get on the public radar.

The best has yet to come from the Act Party. We got a hint of its irreverence when it put up billboards promoting National for the candidate vote and itself for the party vote. National didn't like this but it gave Act's few billboards great secondary exposure through the media. Expect to witness more "gorilla" marketing and, refreshingly, more politicians thinking outside the square.

Strategists from the two major parties are sharply focused on injecting fear into voters' minds as well as the promise of more money in people's back pockets. Meanwhile, for the crowded minor parties, their basic campaign strategy can only be "all coverage is good coverage".

Labour will be frustrated over how National has labelled it before its ad agency could. The gloves are now off, with Labour determined to label National much worse. Gone are the days when political parties managed their own branding.

* Cameron Brewer is a former press secretary and media adviser to Jenny Shipley, John Banks and Rodney Hide. He now heads the Newmarket Business Association.

* Talk Back explores the issues that matter to the media, and the worlds of advertising, marketing, PR and communications.