Federal Election 2022: ‘Awful, grating, annoying’: voters tip a bucket on poll ads

The Coalition have sprung to the defence of their hated ‘hole in the bucket’ campaign. ‘No one likes the Coles ad, but we all know what it says’, a senior Liberal source said. Vote for the poll ad that peeves you the most.

The Coalition have sprung to the defence of their controversial ‘hole in the bucket’ campaign ad.

“The bucket ad rings true because it explains the cost of Mr Albanese being a loose unit on the economy,” he said.

And he explained the thinking behind it. “Effective advertising is not a pursuit of popularity, it’s to stick in people’s minds,” he said.

“No one likes the Coles ad, but we all know what it says.”

This comes after marketing experts claimed Labor had won the election battle of the ads with marketing experts dismissing Liberal ads as “annoying” and “completely missing the mark”.

“Labor has been monstering the Liberals,” marketer and ABC TV Gruen panellist Toby Ralph said.

“Their campaign has been far better.”

The Labor ads with an expensive iceberg lettuce and clips of Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying ‘it’s not my job’ were put together by long-term Labor campaign creator Dee Madigan.

“They work because they deal with relatable items and play into existing voter perceptions,” Mr Ralph said.

But he said the Liberal ‘Dear Labor … hole in the bucket’ television ad (a play on the popular nursery rhyme) “drives me insane. It is awful. It is not working because Labor has not released its costings so it is just not credible.”

Hard on the ear … the Liberal Party budget ad.

Labor has been monstering the Liberals, says marketers.

He also said the Liberal slogan ‘it won’t be easy under Albanese’ was a flop because it appeared to concede that Labor leader Anthony Albanese already had his feet under the desk at the Lodge.

Vote below to tell us what major party ad irks you the most.

The ads were conceived by Adelaide firm KWP! which was highly praised for its work in helping the Liberals win state elections in South Australia and NSW before coming up with the slogan “the Bill Australia can’t afford” to help beat Bill Shorten in the last Federal election.

Dr Andrew Hughes, political marketing expert at the Australian National University, said despite having the same agency the Liberal campaign this time had “missed the mark”.

Many have said the Liberal campaign this time had “missed the mark”.

“The bucket ad has cost them a lot of votes because it is too repetitive and people are tired of it. Plus it misses a lot of the younger market who do not know the song but find it really annoying,” he said.

The traditional parties had also missed out on the benefits of more traditional forms of advertising such as the sellout sales of merchandise enjoyed by One Nation’s Pauline Hanson.

“Clive Palmer’s ads in newspapers have worked well. Supermarkets have trained us to slow down when we see yellow because it could be something special,” he said.

“Newspapers work. Go past any coffee shop in the morning and you will see tradies reading their newspapers. The major parties have overlooked how effective newspaper advertising has played out.”

The Liberal Party’s Gollum video confused Australians who called it “bizarre”.

Brand expert Justin Papps said Labor had also won on social media. “On Facebook, roughly half of the Labor ads have been negative, and half have been positive – showing a clarity and balance in messaging – whereas almost all the Liberal Party ads have been negative.”

Marketing strategist Barry Urquhart placed the responsibility for Labor winning the advertising battle firmly on both leaders.

The United Australia Party spent the most in social media advertising.

The Labor Party spent almost $700,000 with Facebook in the past week alone over 709 advertisements.

Despite having a “whiny” voice he said Mr Albanese was focusing on aspirations with a clear message that “you deserve better”.

He said the Labor leader with an economics degree was outperforming the Liberal leader who had worked in marketing with Tourism Australia before going into politics.

“But this is Scotty from marketing who oversaw the Laura Bingle ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ campaign,” Mr Urquhart said.

“So I would say to Scotty in this election campaign ‘where the bloody hell are you?’”

After The Daily Telegraph revealed the criticism of the ads, a Coalition campaign spokesman sprang to the bucket advert’s defence.

“The bucket ad rings true because it explains the cost of Mr Albanese being a loose unit on the economy,” he said.

A senior Liberal source also explained the thinking behind it.

“Effective advertising is not a pursuit of popularity, it’s to stick in people’s minds,” he said.

“No one likes the Coles ad, but we all know what it says.”

Originally published as Federal Election 2022: ‘Awful, grating, annoying’: voters tip a bucket on poll ads