GUEST BLOG: Geoff Simmons – TOP Brand Launch
Last night TOP launched our new brand.
It marks a complete departure from the 2017 campaign, but also from politics as usual. That is deliberate because for many, politics as usual has failed.
For more than 70 years now we have seen Labour and National share power between them. The result has been 70 years of short term thinking and tinkering around the edges. The two major parties look and talk differently but end up pretty much the same as they compete for the average voter.
Meanwhile the issues pile up: an environmental emergency, a housing crisis, an ageing population and a deluge of disruptive technology that we aren’t remotely ready for.
Our young people lack opportunities, and hope for the future. It’s not fair. They have given up on politics, not because they are apathetic, but because politics hasn’t delivered.
People have switched off from politics completely and it is hard to blame them. To win people back we have to tap into that frustration, but we also have to entertain people and offer hope. That is the thinking behind TOP’s new approach.
Our competitors for people’s attention are not Labour and National, but Nike and Adidas. That is why the new TOP brand looks nothing like any other political party. We will use a variety of colours and styles to talk about different issues and reach different audiences.
But the key to all of it will be telling it like it is and using humour. Only by making people laugh can we show people how crazy the current situation is, and get across that things can be different.
It won’t be easy. But we are up for a challenge.
Geoff Simmons is the Leader of TOP
I wish good luck. The current party politariat need a good shake.
I do hope you (probably) argue for lower thresholds of electionability.
The current 5% is WAAY to high to reflect our diversity.
A policy that requires parties to post their policies and electors to decide which policies the prefer would sort out preferences. Then parties decide who does what with whom. The most popular policies decide the wrestling match winner.
The electors vote on their most favoured policies The parties then have to figure out who rules.
Voting on policies means that John and Johanna Fatbucks, as well a Hoani and Hannah Homeless have a shot at choosing policy, not party schemers.
I think your policies and your focus on breaking up the duopoly of Aotearoa politics is exactly right Geoff – including your remarks about the Greens being tied to the Labour Party and losing their independence. A new coalmine, for goodness sake, and OMV oil drilling imminent. Why haven’t they walked out on this brown (fossil fuel) government already?
However, you lost my interest somewhat when you talked about “entertaining” people.
I think people are really looking for a way past these two jncrementalist, regressive parties (Labour and National) that control our politics and most of our media. If you present well thought-out policies in a clear and serious nanner you will have credibility and a good chance of becoming the third major party. If you try to “entertain” people – make jokes and be funny, I don’t think people will take you seriously.
Goid luck with it anyway!
Genevieve Forde
Candidate for Auckland mayor
Whangaparaoa Peninsula
My comment on the new TOP party leader’s statement has been comletely deleted by an unkniwn hacker.
Genevieve Forde
Candidate for Auckland mayor