ANALYSIS: With the parties in the general election campaign playing safe, their marketing teams had to be equally cautious, writes John Fanning. So their efforts have been bland, boring and banal
Not so long ago a visibly nervous advertising agency creative director was ushered into the then Taoiseach's office to present advertising ideas for the forthcoming general election. He had never been remotely interested in politics but was suitably awed by the trappings of power in the most important office in the land.
He showed a number of preliminary ideas to the great man and asked which, if any, he preferred. After an ominous pause the Taoiseach rasped: "You tell me, you're supposed to be the f . . king exp-ert". Our hero, not realising that all Taoisigh are truly men of the people, had to be carried dumbstruck from the room.
This little true story illustrates the enormous change that has taken place in relations between politicians and the marketing communications business during the intervening period. Today, agency personnel and senior politicians would greet each other on first-name terms and have an amiable chat about which ideas they preferred.
We're not alone in experiencing a sea change in relations between politicians and the growing army of advertising, PR, design and media relations consultants. Only a short time ago in Britain a trades union battered beyond endurance by a right-wing newspaper at the height of the Thatcher era was finally goaded into writing to the editor. The letter began, "while we expect no favours from the running dogs of capitalism . . ." It certainly wouldn't happen now.
The most important single factor in this election is that it comes after five years of an unprecedented economic boom which has left most, but unfortunately not all, segments of our society significantly better off. Because of this Fianna Fáil had little option but to play safe - or in language the Taoiseach would appreciate more - play for a scoreless draw.Equally, the capacity of the two main opposition parties to force even a single corner was severely curtailed.
The resulting marketing communications for all parties has been bland, boring and banal. Fianna Fáil, with more resources in terms of money and manpower, have been the easy winners of the media contest. They managed to dictate the agenda from start to finish and were particularly impressive in minimising the damage that might have been caused by the inevitable hiccups.
Their slogan "A lot done, More to do" does not set the pulse racing or trip lightly off the tongue but it has the virtue of doing exactly what it says on the can: "We've had our little mitts on the levers of power for the last five years and we'd like another five - thanking you."
The less said about Fine Gael's "Vision with Purpose" the better. In itself it says absolutely nothing anyway.
Labour's "Ambitious for Ireland" at least catches the eye, but only to figure out what it means and in particular how it is supposed to differentiate Labour from the other parties.
The PDs began early with the intriguing "Look what we achieved with only four TDs, think what we could do with eight." If you were partly disposed to the party or even neutral, this message could have worked very well, but Bobby Molloy's extraordinary gaffe meant the PDs had to spend the rest of the campaign desperately trying to hang on to their present quota.
The only two marketing communication innovations were in Galway where, in the city, Frank Fahey's cherubic face beams at you from all sides, the man himself resplendent in first communication issue suit, white shirt and bright yellow tie. But when you move out into the wilds of Connemara this beatific vision is replaced by a slightly sinister looking figure, this time sporting a dark jacket and black polo-neck - presumably Frank's idea of what the more hardline republicans wear on dress-down dé hAoine.
On a more serious note, the PDs deserve full credit for bringing out a second message on their lamppost posters to counteract the findings of an opinion poll suggesting that Fianna Fáil were likely to achieve an overall majority. "No Thanks "the lampposts screamed a day later.
If more parties used their lamppost allocations to vary their messages, responding to developments in the campaign, people might pay more attention to them.
I didn't see all the party political broadcasts, but judging by what I did manage to catch, this was probably just as well. One Fianna Fáil spectacular last Friday was brilliantly produced but was about as relevant as a Westlife video. Throughout the campaign their have been complaints from the media blaming the marketing consultants, and in particular market research, for the blandness of the debate.
It is ironic that politicians are falling over themselves to embrace marketing and market research at a time when businesses are being advised that ideas, initiatives and innovations are the only guarantee of future success and that over-reliance on market research will only result in safe me-too offerings.
But maybe we shouldn't complain too much. Irish society is probably more at ease with itself than at any time in living memory and a boring election is a small price to pay for that.
Political junkies can console themselves that after three weeks of politically anodyne "showtime" they can look forward to a resumption of real politics after the election when the new government will be faced with the type of decisions they haven't had to confront for the last five years - raising taxes, cutting public expenditure, facing down truculent trades unions.
• John Fanning is chairman of McConnell's Advertising