Media&Marketing:Most marketing campaigns for a product initiative take place over a short period of a few weeks or months, writes Siobhan O'Connell.
No matter how big the company, marketing budgets always have limits, so the media spend is concentrated to maximise impact among ad-weary consumers.
So pity the marketers pulling the strings for the political parties ahead of the general election that everyone expects - but no one can be sure - will take place in May. The parties' marketing campaigns are now in full swing, with political messages from the parties and from candidates visible on poster sites around the country.
Political advertising is not allowed on radio or television, so all the spend is directed to posters, press and direct mail. Fine Gael, which has a general election campaign budget of €3.3 million, has been postering its message since the start of the year and indeed there are advantages for political parties to spend on marketing ahead of the general election being called.
This is because limits on spending only kick in after the Dáil has been dissolved. So at the moment, parties can spend what they like without having to account for it.
This explains why the current political marketing seems to be so drawn out. Party strategists might prefer to concentrate their firepower during the weeks of the actual election campaign. But if they do that, their spend is capped by law. Even with that cap, the spend on posters and advertising during the weeks of the general election campaign will likely top €10 million.
Five years ago, the parties spent €8.5 million after the election was called and the spending limits have been raised for 2007. How the system works is that each candidate is allocated a spending limit by SIPO, the election regulator.
The bigger the constituency, the higher the limit. Candidates then surrender some of their spending limit back to party headquarters, which the party can spend on its national campaign. Fianna Fáil won't confirm who is directing its "Next Steps" poster blitz, but it is likely that Martin Larkin of the Larkin Partnership is closely involved. Fine Gael's ads are created by design agency Atomic, with Mindshare buying the media space.
The Labour Party's posters have been the most eye-catching so far - they're the work of design agency Red Dog, with niche agency Bloom advising on marketing strategy.
The best-focused leaflets to date have come from the PDS, but they're not saying who takes the credit. The Green Party's ads - now visible along the Luas green line - are handled by creatives Nick Kelly and Damian Hanley.
About 75 per cent of total election campaign costs goes on posters, leaflets, brochures and print advertising. But what about digital advertising this time? Labour has made a stab in this direction, with its latest poster asking people to send a text message for more details on Labour's agenda for change.
And the party has devised a special website, www.makeachange.ie. However, Labour won't be blowing a fortune on MySpace banners to get the youth vote, and neither will Fine Gael.
Stephen Quinn of Atomic explains: "Online will be a small part of the campaign. Online is cheap, but the people who are looking at it aren't likely to vote on election day."
Country's top mix
Dublin Country Mix 106.8FM had a good ratings result recently, compared with some of its peers. While Q102 saw its average quarter-hour audience (AQH) plummet by 38 per cent through 2006, Country Mix added 7 per cent during the same period. The station's audience is still relatively small, with 7,000 AQH adult listeners compared with 35,000 for 98FM or 17,000 for Newstalk.
But the Country Mix demographic is biased towards upmarket over-35s who recognise Hotel California as a song rather than an LA hostelry.
The ratings are helping Country Mix's sales director, Rena Maycock, land some impressive deals.
The Porsche Centre Dublin has agreed a spend of €46,000 for a 12-month sponsorship of the David Dennehy's drivetime show, Home Bound, with the aim of shifting more Cayenne SUVs - the dream machines for the N11 commute crowd.
Maycock has also roped in Sky Plus as a sponsor for Greg Gaughran's Lazy Afternoon show, while the Radisson SAS St Helens Hotel has done a sponsorship deal for the Country Mix breakfast show.
Airport campaign
Worried about a looming summer of discontent in Dublin airport, due to the shambolic facilities it presides over, the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has turned to advertising to try to brainwash punters that things aren't as bad as they seem.
"The propaganda campaign to be unleashed shortly will go under the highly original tagline of "Transforming Dublin Airport".
The campaign will have a spend of €200,000 to remind the public that the misery they are suffering now is for the greater good later on.
"We're on our way to a better airport" is another tagline from the authority's campaign, which must have got its inspiration from Irish Rail's recent efforts.
