The Walk for Yes in Sydney on Sunday.Credit:Steven Siewert
The new ad also cleverly straddles the negative and the positive. It reminds people of current outcomes but not in a way that makes them feel guilty because that’s not effective. Rather,the ad empowers the viewer. Questions are powerful because they invite people to think for themselves,instead of telling them what to think. And this question implicitly reminds the viewer that the answer to “Will I?” rests with them and their vote.
Using a child in a TV ad is smart because parents instinctively listen when they hear a child’s voice – so it cuts through. But it also inoculates against the accusation that the Voice is really about a bunch of adults in Canberra. Again,Why not What.
The end line is particularly powerful. People inherently don’t like change,so when you’re advocating for change,you have to make the risk in not changing bigger than the risk in changing. “Yes makes it possible” is not an overpromise. It’s not saying all things will be solved. But most importantly,it highlights the risk in not voting Yes,which is,if you vote no,change for the better simply isn’t possible.
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The other reason this is a good ad is from a purely practical media-buy perspective. The hero piece matters but it also cuts down well into sharegraphics and shorter videos – the ability to layer a campaign is important. People need to see an ad six times for it to work,and in the old days of broadcast TV ads,that was pretty easy. A big enough media buy would do it. But now,with an increasingly fragmented target market,many of whom don’t even watch broadcast TV,campaign content that can be served up in different ways via different mediums is important.
The Yes campaign has some catch-up to do. But this feels like a good start.
Dee Madigan has been Labor’s advertising creative director for 25 election campaigns,including the 2022 federal election. She runs Campaign Edge,is a panelist on ABC’sGruen and the author ofThe Hard Sell,as well as a contributing author onMothermorphosis andPerspectives on Change.