On brand challenges

The NDP has unveiled its first election ad, featuring one noteworthy continuation from past campaigns and one direct (if subtle) attack on the Cons' brand:



Now, the first point worth noting is the NDP's continued choice to keep its election ads playful, following in the footsteps of the 2008 Chalk Talk theme with a bright colour scheme and deliberately unsophisticated animation at the start of the ad. That makes for a direct contrast against anything on offer from the Libs or Cons - serving at the very least to set the NDP apart from its competitors, but also raising the possibility that a lighter touch may make a policy attack more effective.

And that leads to the most interesting element of the ad - being the choice to focus on the story of Tim Horton's being used as an emergency room, rather than any other example of a need for change in Canada's health-care system.

On its face, that focus looks like a curious one, as there are probably more stark stories to make the case for greater investment in health care. But it does give rise to a golden opportunity to turn the Cons' brand against them: while Harper tries to paint himself as a Tim Hortons politician, the NDP wants to make sure that any association between the Cons and a basic element of their preferred brand instead leads voters to think of a crumbling health care system under Harper.

That might not seem to be an issue at the moment, as the Cons haven't used the Tim Hortons line as much recently as they did in previous campaigns. But with the Tim Hortons/Starbucks coffee contrast serving as one of their favourite shorthands to define Harper in comparison to Michael Ignatieff, they may not be able to resist as the campaign goes on - which may help the NDP's opening message to last throughout the election campaign.