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Marketing Fine Gael

  • 28-05-2010 09:59AM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,641 ✭✭✭✭


    Over the years FG seem to be less adapt at marketing themselves.

    Twink playing a cleaner at the ard-fheis in 1991, the Yes to Lisbon polling ads (of course people were going to hit no even yes voters) and now this whack-a-dodo on a fairly good looking "New Era" website.

    I am not a fan of FG but surely someone in FG realizes that you should stay away from trying to be funny.

    This new campaign would be good if they had stayed away from the same old unfunny political tactics.


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,661 ✭✭✭Fuhrer


    They should also gloss over the fact that they supported nearly all of FF's policies or offered only the weakest, tamest of concern about it.


    That should help them been seen as "real" opposition.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 526 ✭✭✭goreyguy


    They dont have a leader


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,163 ✭✭✭✭Liam Byrne


    goreyguy wrote: »
    They dont have a leader

    They do. His name is Enda Kenny. :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,514 ✭✭✭maynooth_rules


    goreyguy wrote: »
    They dont have a leader

    As oppossed to Finna Fail who have a simply terrific leader:rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 410 ✭✭trapsagenius


    As oppossed to Finna Fail who have a simply terrific leader:rolleyes:

    Doesn't excuse the fact Kenny is so bad.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,163 ✭✭✭✭Liam Byrne


    Doesn't excuse the fact Kenny is so bad.

    But the people who slag off Kenny and say they won't vote for FG because he's a crap leader are the same one's who'll vote for FF despite them having a crappier leader.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,641 ✭✭✭✭Elmo


    Ye have gone off topic slagging the Leader of FF and FG. (Both of whom are as good as each other i.e. useless).

    I am trying to point out the Waka-dodo dooodddoddjfalkdfj marketing of FG. Does it not just fly right back in their face every time they try something humourous?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,885 ✭✭✭PomBear


    Young Fine Gael's tagline at our society's day in college was "Be Part of the Winning Team"

    I facepalm'd


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,641 ✭✭✭✭Elmo


    PomBear wrote: »
    Young Fine Gael's tagline at our society's day in college was "Be Part of the Winning Team"

    Well that might be considered Irony, perhaps ????


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,007 ✭✭✭✭thebman


    Its easy to market FG. They simply need to highlight their key policies and recommend their website to people who want more information.

    In order to get people to vote for them, they need to get them the information to make them realise they agree with FG's policies.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,565 ✭✭✭southsiderosie


    That video game is the kind of thing that the media people convince the leadership (who don't know much about technology and can barely use their email) to pay thousands of dollars for because it's "cool", not because it adds value to anything. I worked on a campaign that did something similar, and after hours of meetings and thousands of dollars we got a 2 minute flash cartoon that was mostly viewed by other members of the organization and people who didn't even live in the state where the campaign was being held. Sigh.

    It would be easier to market FG if 1) they hadn't spent the last decade or so trying to be FF and 2) they had a leader who was a pithy and constant critic of the government. I'm an outsider to Irish politics, but Gilmore seems far more visible than Kenny; I don't think I even know what Kenny sounds like.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 234 ✭✭scr123


    As we all know, or should know, Marketing is a fancy modern word for Sales. Products and services have to be sold and thats what business is all about. Not an easy task and few people are capable of being good at it as the fear of rejection is difficult to overcome. I fearlesly sell myself as a balanced minded person who supports FF and believe me its difficult at times because I do not have the luxury of fixed ideological beliefs as the extremists do in FG and Labour and its minnows further to their left enjoy.
    Marketing FG is a thankless job, lets face it what ever right wingers we have in the country can only find their home in FG. Over the years FG have made attempts to sell themselves as a just society party and various shades of social democracy. It just doesnt work, FG represent that large minority of people who see themselves as the true backbone of the country who have succeeded in life without recourse to the welfare state and believe everyone should be like them. Thankfully they confine themselves to FG
    I could go on and on about FG and its failures but one has only to look at its poll ratings to know there is something radically wrong with its whole ethos and no amount of marketing will overcome its flawed pedigree


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,350 ✭✭✭Het-Field


    scr123 wrote: »
    As we all know, or should know, Marketing is a fancy modern word for Sales. Products and services have to be sold and thats what business is all about. Not an easy task and few people are capable of being good at it as the fear of rejection is difficult to overcome. I fearlesly sell myself as a balanced minded person who supports FF and believe me its difficult at times because I do not have the luxury of fixed ideological beliefs as the extremists do in FG and Labour and its minnows further to their left enjoy.
    Marketing FG is a thankless job, lets face it what ever right wingers we have in the country can only find their home in FG. Over the years FG have made attempts to sell themselves as a just society party and various shades of social democracy. It just doesnt work, FG represent that large minority of people who see themselves as the true backbone of the country who have succeeded in life without recourse to the welfare state and believe everyone should be like them. Thankfully they confine themselves to FG
    I could go on and on about FG and its failures but one has only to look at its poll ratings to know there is something radically wrong with its whole ethos and no amount of marketing will overcome its flawed pedigree

    This post is a joke, highlighted by the use of the word "extremists". What polices of FG/Lab are "extreme". You clearly have a scewed view of politics, or know little or nothing about extremism.

    This shows the supporters of FF as a populist party that will swing whatever way the wind blows. Between 1997-2003 FF, with cajoling from the PDs took a right wing approach, which benefitted the economy greatly. Prior to the bubble unemployment was at an all time low, our international reputation was at an all time high, and we had a robust economy built on the factors of productivtiy. However, when Bertie was called "mean" by the media and was hammered at the Locals/Euros in 2004 he called himself a "Socialist" and began adhering to the welfare state, and high public expenditure. This of course was one of the crucial reasons for the bust This is not the middle ground which you purport to represent, this is populism. Populsim cannot apply to the traditional political scale of left and right.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,641 ✭✭✭✭Elmo


    Het-Field wrote: »
    This shows the supporters of FF as a populist party that will swing whatever way the wind blows. Between 1997-2003 FF, with cajoling from the PDs took a right wing approach, which benefitted the economy greatly. Prior to the bubble unemployment was at an all time low, our international reputation was at an all time high, and we had a robust economy built on the factors of productivtiy. However, when Bertie was called "mean" by the media and was hammered at the Locals/Euros in 2004 he called himself a "Socialist" and began adhering to the welfare state, and high public expenditure. This of course was one of the crucial reasons for the bust This is not the middle ground which you purport to represent, this is populism. Populsim cannot apply to the traditional political scale of left and right.

    And from 1992 to 1994 they went left to begin building the economy which allowed for the extreme right wing policies from 1997-2007 which caused major upset in the future. But that just proves that FF do swing from Left to Right and back again which is what src123 was pointing out. Call it swinging or flip flopping.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 41,232 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    thebman wrote: »
    Its easy to market FG. They simply need to highlight their key policies and recommend their website to people who want more information.

    In order to get people to vote for them, they need to get them the information to make them realise they agree with FG's policies.

    Thats the problem though - which website?

    http://www.faircare.ie
    http://www.new-era.ie
    http://www.letinthelight.ie
    http://www.nationaldebt.ie
    http://www.heart-of-europe.ie
    http://www.yestoeurope.ie
    http://www.ripoff.ie
    http://www.safestreets.ie

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,468 ✭✭✭BluntGuy


    Het-Field wrote: »
    This shows the supporters of FF as a populist party that will swing whatever way the wind blows. Between 1997-2003 FF, with cajoling from the PDs took a right wing approach, which benefitted the economy greatly. Prior to the bubble unemployment was at an all time low, our international reputation was at an all time high, and we had a robust economy built on the factors of productivtiy.

    I'll agree with you that FF are populist, will promise the world and deliver nothing.

    But I am not about to call the PD economic policy successful, when we are seeing the fruits of it (combined with FF incompetence) mere years later.

    Their only idea was tax reductions and deregulation of everything and all they managed to do was make us more dependent on FDI which is now drying up and assist in making the banks even less responsible. Hardly a success story. The PD rubbish of low taxes, quick, unsustainable FDI-driven growth was just as bad as FF's lack of vision, house-of-cards economics and constant unrealistic promises to every vested interest out there.

    I'm not right-wing, but bloody hell, if we must have a right wing party it should be one that at least has some ounce of ability to run the country in some way efficiently, and more importantly fairly. That is not FF. We are going to have to have more cuts and FF do not have the bottle to remove the unnecessary admin staff they and the PDs brought into the system. Particularly the health system. So we are going to have our services (i.e useful staff and equipment) cut first, WHILE redundant staff that should've been removed all along, will remain. This creates a vicious cycle where the remaining staff who actually do want to do a good job (and yes these people exist!) will have even less resources, but in the same inefficient system, thus making the service far, far worse than it should be.

    On the subject of leaders, Enda comes across like a cardboard cut out sometimes, where as Biffo often comes across like someone they dragged off the street and shoved into a suit. Clearly, the ability of the leaders to look flashy in public is not what we should be voting on. :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,641 ✭✭✭✭Elmo


    BluntGuy wrote: »
    On the subject of leaders, Enda comes across like a cardboard cut out sometimes, where as Biffo often comes across like someone they dragged off the street and shoved into a suit. Clearly, the ability of the leaders to look flashy in public is not what we should be voting on. :D

    Or as Ian Paisley put it that Cowen looks like his mother glued his lips to the floor and then tried to remove the floor from his lips. (I think he might have said it better than that).


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,163 ✭✭✭✭Liam Byrne


    scr123 wrote: »
    As we all know, or should know, Marketing is a fancy modern word for Sales. Products and services have to be sold and thats what business is all about. Not an easy task and few people are capable of being good at it as the fear of rejection is difficult to overcome. I fearlesly sell myself as a balanced minded person who supports FF and believe me its difficult at times because I do not have the luxury of fixed ideological beliefs as the extremists do in FG and Labour and its minnows further to their left enjoy.

    Firstly, business and politics shouldn't be mixed up; of course, as an FF supporter, that might be hard to stomach.

    And the perfect example of "marketing" involves unashamedly selling something as something that it's not.....e.g. you "fearlessly selling yourself" as "a balanced minded person", while simultaneously being a "staunch" anything, is an example.......no matter how many times a marketing guru says something like "essential" doesn't make it true.

    What you apparently view as "extremism" is why I would view as having a vision and not compromising......it avoids ridiculous flip-flopping and the spectacle of Ahern claiming that he was a "socialist".
    scr123 wrote: »
    I could go on and on about FG and its failures but one has only to look at its poll ratings to know there is something radically wrong with its whole ethos and no amount of marketing will overcome its flawed pedigree

    Sorry....can't type anymore as I'm picking myself off the floor laughing!!!! :D

    "Balanced-minded", you said ?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,641 ✭✭✭✭Elmo


    To extent I think scr123 is right, however being neither FF or FG I am looking in from an outsider point of view. Unfortunately FF are slick, that doesn't make me want to vote for them but FG just come across is inept especially when trying to sell their views. The Waka-dodo really annoys me because I think it is an ultimate fail for FG and an own goal in terms of bring people to the party, and they do it so often, foot in ones mouth kind of politics. I mean FF seem to be able to own goal and put there foot in their mouths and for some reason come across better than FG :confused: perhaps its because FF are distracting you with their complex dithering that you simple for get that they never had anything to offer.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,350 ✭✭✭Het-Field


    BluntGuy wrote: »
    I'll agree with you that FF are populist, will promise the world and deliver nothing.

    But I am not about to call the PD economic policy successful, when we are seeing the fruits of it (combined with FF incompetence) mere years later.

    Their only idea was tax reductions and deregulation of everything and all they managed to do was make us more dependent on FDI which is now drying up and assist in making the banks even less responsible. Hardly a success story. The PD rubbish of low taxes, quick, unsustainable FDI-driven growth was just as bad as FF's lack of vision, house-of-cards economics and constant unrealistic promises to every vested interest out there.

    I'm not right-wing, but bloody hell, if we must have a right wing party it should be one that at least has some ounce of ability to run the country in some way efficiently, and more importantly fairly. That is not FF. We are going to have to have more cuts and FF do not have the bottle to remove the unnecessary admin staff they and the PDs brought into the system. Particularly the health system. So we are going to have our services (i.e useful staff and equipment) cut first, WHILE redundant staff that should've been removed all along, will remain. This creates a vicious cycle where the remaining staff who actually do want to do a good job (and yes these people exist!) will have even less resources, but in the same inefficient system, thus making the service far, far worse than it should be.

    On the subject of leaders, Enda comes across like a cardboard cut out sometimes, where as Biffo often comes across like someone they dragged off the street and shoved into a suit. Clearly, the ability of the leaders to look flashy in public is not what we should be voting on. :D

    I dont think it is fair to conflate the PD approach with that of the FF Property Bubble. If the conditions are correct FDI can be more then short term, and can provide the solid basis for an exonomy. The only thing a Property Bubble can do is provide short term financial wealth, and very unsustainable employment.

    Equally, the taxation model is not really why we are in the mess we are. Annual increased public expenditure of 10% + is the main reason for our structural problems. This is money which didnt need to be saved. Instead it was spunked away on all sorts of electorally beneficial goodies. The reason that tax models have little or nothing to do with our current position is artiuclate dby the different models adoped around Europe, and the different strengths at which economies have been hit by the recession.

    I have no difficulty blaiming the PDs for their failureto practice what they preached in 1996 and 1997. As part of their manifesto they sought to cull the public sector, and wanton public waste. However, they paid the price electorally, and instantly that went out the window. Although between 1997-2003 they did drive the economy in a reasonably sustainable way, they never managed to cull the unmanagable public sector, and added to it with the creation of Forfas as an offshoot of theDepartment of Enterprise Trade and Employment. This set the standard of what was to become the staple for the FF/PD administration, and willingly allowed the introduction of Benchmarking II and further growth, without consideration of the long term consequences. However, the fundamental ideology of the PDs in May 1997 was right, and had they put it into practice, I believe we would be in a better position today.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,078 ✭✭✭conorhal


    PomBear wrote: »
    Young Fine Gael's tagline at our society's day in college was "Be Part of the Winning Team"

    I facepalm'd

    :D Would that be the kind of special team on which 'everybody gets a medal'?.....

    For years, FG's primary marketing campaign has focused on the slogan "Vote for US, we're not Fianna Fail!", not good enough boys, they badly need to get them some Saatchi....


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 410 ✭✭trapsagenius


    Liam Byrne wrote: »
    But the people who slag off Kenny and say they won't vote for FG because he's a crap leader are the same one's who'll vote for FF despite them having a crappier leader.

    Well I won't be voting for either in the next election if it's any consolation.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,007 ✭✭✭✭thebman


    Johnnymcg wrote: »

    The core one http://finegael.org/ then branch off to the specific sites if they wish to.

    Nothing wrong with having dedicated portals as long as you give a central way of accessing them and market that. The above should be for bookmarking convenience or easy of remembering rather than being the core marketed sites. They need to focus on the brand which is FG not the above issues.

    They are hoping to attract people to FG if they are looking for the above but fail to try to advertise that the finegael website has infromation on all of the above (or at least should have).


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 41,232 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    thebman wrote: »
    The core one http://finegael.org/ then branch off to the specific sites if they wish to.

    Nothing wrong with having dedicated portals as long as you give a central way of accessing them and market that. The above should be for bookmarking convenience or easy of remembering rather than being the core marketed sites. They need to focus on the brand which is FG not the above issues.

    They are hoping to attract people to FG if they are looking for the above but fail to try to advertise that the finegael website has infromation on all of the above (or at least should have).

    I disagree - I think everything should be centred on the one website and easily accessible - By setting up websites for every issue you are diluting your message, fracturing your information and making it difficult to find information on policies - If I'm an uninformed Joe Soap and I want to look for a fine gael health policy - am I supposed to know that all the details are not on www.finegael.ie - I think that strategy is woeful - It's not coherent and seems pointless - In my view they should have everything on ONE website. It's much much easier for them and the general public

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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