Well, if anyone should be making the most of brand power right now it’s the would-be leaders of our country. Take a look at the front covers of their manifestos and place your votes for the party you feel packs the best promotional punch.
The Labour Manifesto
I first saw this Manifesto on TV a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t a close up of it, and so from a distance I thought it looked very 1980’s. It reminded me of my sisters bedroom from that era when she had white furniture with red handles.
I like the two blocks of red, but the image in the centre is not at all inspiring for me. It reminds me of a 1960’s movie about a nuclear bomb. The family are looking down at the devastated landscape that used to be their home and the sun is the mushroom cloud of dust and nuclear radiation. Is this just a metaphor for the state of the country and the economy now?
Having said that, some of the team thinks the central image reminds them of Cornflakes or Green Giant sweet corn, so could Labour have been aiming for a strong, nostaligic brand indicating dependable traditional values?
The Conservative Manifesto
I like this front cover. It looks classy and traditional. Depending upon your political leanings the title could make you feel proud and part of something new or it could be perceived as very arrogant.
The image of the tree on the front cover is very understated and there are some great graphics within the document itself, but it looks as though the design of the manifesto and poster campaigns have been managed by two different agencies, missing out on the vital element of consistency in brand building success.
The Liberal Democrat Manifesto
I like this front cover. I think that it clean and clear, with the use of the coloured boxes to highlight their key policies proving both very striking and extremely clever. If you delve further into the manifesto, the layout is very easy on the eye, perhaps a bit too easy as the simplicity started to annoy me – in fact, a primary school text books springs to mind. Hmm. Having said that, it makes it easy to scan the whole document for the areas most relevant to you.
My winner is the Lib Dem specifically because not only do I think that the layout and the graphics will appeal to a lot of people, but also because of the use strategic copy smack bang on the front.
