Name recognition ’paramount’

It’s that stage in the election cycle when berms become saturated with hoardings featuring big smiles and bigger promises.

Low rates, economic growth, progress – most candidates are essentially promising the same things, with slight variations.

And while the promises, smiles and assurances of integrity may well look similar, a well-known name can make all the difference to who makes it into office, say experts.

Political commentator David Farrar said name recognition was ‘‘almost paramount’’ in local body elections where the lack of party politics made it less obvious what candidates stood for.

‘‘In a general election you can vote for a party and you know what they are going to do.

‘‘At a local level it’s harder to know how to vote to make a change.’’

Farrar said incumbent politicians had an advantage over those on the outside trying to get in, as long as their name was not connected with something considered widely unpopular, in which case name recognition could count against them.

At a national level, governments typically had a maximum lifespan of about three terms, however in local politics it wasn’t unusual for councillors to have been around for 20 years, Farrar said.

Dr Edward Elder, political marketing expert at the University of Auckland, said ultimately all candidates professed to have qualities such as trustworthiness and sound judgement.

‘‘People going through a list of candidates might gravitate towards a person they recognise.

‘‘Name recognition is important, otherwise you might get overlooked.’’

For those candidates wanting to stand out from the pack – and particularly for new challengers – time and money is key.

Farrar said candidates couldn’t expect to have a successful campaign by starting three months before an election.

Instead they needed to start raising their profile early to build their ‘‘reputational work ethic’’.

Meeting people by attending public events and door knocking throughout a campaign created memorable interactions with voters who were more likely to remember the candidate.

Elder said candidates needed to show they were putting in the hard yards or risked getting lost in the list of other hopefuls.

‘‘Even if you are annoying people by door knocking, people will acknowledge that you are putting in the work.’’

He said it was important for candidates to follow up with billboards and flyers closer to election time, to help reinforce the work they had already done.

Farrar said candidates could also raise their profile through the media by ‘‘picking fights’’, or by promoting interesting aspects of themselves such as being young or unconventional.

Both Elder and Farrar said dropping levels of political engagement meant name recognition was becoming more important.

VOTERS MUST DO THE RESEARCH

Electionz.com chief electoral officer Warwick Lampp said the dropping levels of engagement came down to a number of reasons, though an increasingly time poor population was a big factor.

‘‘There’s quite a lot of information to get through. It’s not a five-minute job.’’

While voting packs containing papers and a return envelope included a candidate profile pamphlet, it was not a definitive guide, Lampp said.

With each profile containing only 150 words, it was up to voters to do their own research and attend candidate meetings if they wished to make an informed decision.