In the 10 months Fairfax Auckland news director John Anthony has been in the job, he’s brought a refreshing, opinionated hard-news edge to the company’s Auckland community papers. Typical is this blunt message, from the latest issue of East & Bays Courier: “NZ election advertising is in desperate need of a rebrand,” he writes.
The Electoral Commission’s Orange Guy, created in 2009 by Saatchi & Saatchi, is the core branding for the Government’s voting campaigns. But it’s dated, he says.
“Considering voter turnout at elections is dismally low, a rebrand is well overdue.
“Students find Orange Guy unrelatable and annoying, and women voters in particular find him uninspiring.
“With so much at stake, we need the best mind in the advertising business working on what is effectively the most important marketing campaign in the country.”
Hard to argue with any of that!
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