Jerry Buttimer, Fine Gael - tell us more Jerry
As part of the election process I am going to do a “Ronseal” (what does their tin say about them) review of the political candidates literature that comes in through our letterbox and score them accordingly!!
Candidate: Jerry Buttimer, Fine Gael (Cork South Central)
This review is quite easy for me as it follows a standard format that some of the Fine Gael candidates are using – I have other candidates reviewed already so my job is easy – check out Derry Canty!
Design and Layout (5)
Jerry and his FG team opted for a really small flyer, A6 size, it’s tiny but it is printed on heavier paper than the other candidates so far. For some reason there is no mention of which constituency Jerry is running in prominently on the flyer – score 3
Photo (10)
There is a only a fair photo of Jerry, looking just ok, giving no hint of his personality and with a slightly vacant look in his eyes. He is wearing a dark suit with a light blue shirt and red and blue striped blue tie – standard attire for a politician I guess! Would you trust this man? The photo doesn’t engage with me so I will give a neutral score here – score 5
Contact Details (5)
He includes both his email address and his personal phone number on his flyer, a nice “open” approach. As well as this he has his Facebook and twitter pages listed .. ok, that puts him in the progressive box and gives everyone an opportunity to really find out more about what he is like and what he is up to – score 5
Background (10)
There is absolutely nothing on the flyer about Jerry. When I say nothing I really mean nothing.. how can I be expected to vote for you if I know nothing about you, what you believe in, what you are qualified at, what you have achieved – score 0
Sales Pitch (10)
The sales pitch on the flyer is a generic Fine Gael pitch and not why we should vote for Jerry. To be fair it does give a point by point review of what they would do. It is a little generic though using terms such as “radical stimulus plan” and “radical reforms” , tell me more, I’d love to hear more about these radical changes .. – score 5
Big Picture (10)
The big picture argument was the same as the sales pitch and did attempt to explain how FG would make a difference. At least there is an attempt at explaining how the “big picture” might be different if we voted for them – score 8
Overall Score
This is a Fine Gael flyer with Jerry’s picture and contact details on it. As I suspected we will see exactly the same across the length and breadth of the country with other candidate’s names and pictures.
Jerry (or Derry as the case will be), people vote for people and you know this – your flyer is a wasted opportunity to get your message across to your voters. Lots of pressing the flesh is needed to show them you – check out Aine Collin’s (Fine Gael) flyer who goes some way to showing what she is like and why we should vote for “her” – overall score 26 out of 50.
Best of luck in the elections Jerry or was it Derry!?
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications
Greg Canty Fuzion Blog 