With 11 days left before municipal elections next month, political party campaign messages and adverts have taken centre-stage with voters spoilt for choice.
The EFF's election messaging and adverts have secured the nod for being the most impactful compared to other parties, according to advertising gurus who assessed the effectiveness of the message and adverts to sway voters but not politics.
Public relations and advertising experts who spoke to Sowetan said the EFF messaging and advertising approaches put it ahead.
The party recently dropped its first official election ad in which it called for jobs, land expropriation, rates reduction, 24-hour clinics and accountability.
Using creative re-enactment led by a young thespian who repeatedly demands that the key services be delivered “manje” (now), the one-minute advert cuts through short scenes of protesting graduates clad in gowns, a business owner being evicted from her premises, a frantic elderly woman having her electricity cut off and a patient being driven on a wheelchair as they repeat the slogan after her.
Brand reputation management adviser Solly Moeng said the EFF advert was creatively pinpointing things that were hurting a lot of people and creating urgency around them through messaging, which made it easier to connect with the electorate.
Brave Group chief executive Karabo Songo said the EFF advert was based on clear service delivery promises, narrated by a young person who was representative of the majority in the country and with its narrative being able to highlight the problems without using typical political-finger pointing or being led by a political leader.
“It is a refreshing advert that certainly hit the right note with new incoming young voters and also potentially lapsed voters, due to the negative coverage over the past years as per reviews on the socials,” Songo said.
The ANC and the DA, which had used monologues of their leaders in their adverts, have been criticised for lacking creativity, which the experts said was in line with their mixed messaging which spoke less with the youth.
Reputation 1st managing director and former Public Relations Institute of SA (Prisa) president Tshepo Matseba said the EFF’s strong and active presence on social media was one of its strongest advantages.
“If you look at the generation that we are targeting, which is young people, the EFF has an upper hand both in terms of accessibility and relevance in terms of messaging,” Matseba said.
Matseba said it was impossible to evaluate the impact of parties’ adverts without analysing their holistic messaging which included their posters and social media campaigns.
Matseba said poorly thought-out divisive posters and ANC-focused comparative advertising by the DA were likely to be not well-received by prospective voters, even though its “Get Things Done” slogan was a credible campaign.
The party had put up posters in predominantly Indian community of Phoenix in KwaZulu-Natal, where many black people were killed during the July riots and looting, saying “They called you racists, we call you heroes”.
The ANC released its official advert on Tuesday night which features President Cyril Ramaphosa’s monologue encouraging voters to choose the party as he says it was turning a new page in local government.
Matseba said the ANC’s election message had been dampened by endless apologies to voters other than being dominated by electoral promises and commitments.
“Apologising is a helpful positive gesture but not a campaign strategy. You cannot apologise for the entire campaign,” he said.
He said while ActionSA was a new entrant into the space, it had also mastered to ensure consistency in its messaging and electoral advertisement as it focused on good governance and efficiency as its main offer.
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