Party out to prove that Green is the new black
Leaders keen to push famous faces in front of voters to prove credibility
The Green Party is kicking off its election year publicity drive by telling voters that it is not that unusual to be Green.
The party launches its “Great Greens” campaign today, a series of promotional videos and a website which has a slogan of “Give Green a Go”.
While past campaigns have often centred on policy and ideas — the slogan in 2011 was “Jobs, Rivers, Kids” — the 2017 campaign focuses more on promoting the party and its MPs as relatable, effective, and responsible.
It is notable for the nearabsence of environmental messages.
Green coleader James Shaw said: “We know that people are looking to hear from us about our social and economic messaging. They know where we stand on the environment.
“This was more about celebrating what’s great about New Zealand and the broad array of people getting in behind the Greens. It’s to do with diversity, and having faces that people recognise, faces like themselves.”
The campaign was produced by Wellington-based agency Double Denim, which worked on Justin Lester’s successful bid for the Wellington mayoralty last year and the Council of Trade Unions’ “Treat Her Right” campaign on the gender pay gap
The videos feature Hunt for the Wilderpeople director Taika Waititi and Moana star Rachel House, and were produced by Loren Taylor, who starred in and directed the offbeat film Eagle v Shark. They focus on artists, businesspeople, fishermen, scientists, rural workers, young and
Hold, and people from various ethnicities speaking about they like and want in New Zealand.
Shaw said it aimed to show the “breadth and depth” of Green support. “People need to see how relatable we are and why we are seeking their support,” he said. “We talk a lot about policy, but actually people are wanting to know who we are, and to get a sense they can trust us.”
The campaign appears to be an attempt to tackle two of the parties’ main obstacles to election — the enduring perception that the Greens have little economic credibility and that it is a party for the fringe or wacky voters.
Shaw is introduced as a businessman who has travelled to 50 countries and worked in 30 of them, and fellow co-leader Metiria Turei as a corporate lawyer.
It refers to Turei’s first act as coleader — getting MPs to reveal their expenses. This continues the Greens’ work on economic accountability, which includes a push for an independent costings agency.
Shaw said the Greens were also aiming to be “relentlessly positive”, partly because attack politics put off voters but also as a counter to the divisive, populist rhetoric in recent US and UK politics. The campaign was influenced by the party’s internal polling, which reportedly shows close to 30 per cent of New Zealanders consider voting Green at election time but many do not show up.
The Greens received 10.7 per cent of the party vote in 2014. Watch the video at nzherald.co.nz