Here’s a bit of fun for the Easter break: a piece of positive advertising on behalf of the Labour Party for their leader Ed Miliband carrying the headline “He’s an egghead, but a good egg”.

The public regard the Labour leader as a bit of a geek and this piece of communication playfully acknowledges that before letting them know he’s a nice guy too.

David Cameron’s personal poll ratings remain high and people are yet to see Miliband as ‘someone they’d like to have a drink with’.  For Labour to succeed in 2015, they need to start making Miliband connect with the electorate; authentic communications such as this are a step in the right direction.

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The Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband made a real feature of the phrase “Downgraded Chancellor” throughout his speech.  He also made a point about it being possible to fit the Coalition government’s budget into a single tweet.

The Labour Party subsequently released the image above which featured both pieces of messaging.

Very good.

The Labour Party released this image almost immediately after Ed Miliband made the exact same point in his Budget response in The House of Commons.

This synergy between broadcast and social execution is great and is something that all political parties and causes should be trying to achieve.

Here’s a few Budget Day memes which attack George Osborne and feature the end line “Well done, George”.

The various headlines use the lines of attack that Labour will no doubt be using to attack the Chancellor on his big day.

Ed Miliband stars in a new party political broadcast by The Labour Party on the topic of immigration.

I wish it wasn’t important what a politician sounds like, but unfortunately it does.  And Ed Miliband’s voice sounds really very odd in this broadcast. You can’t help The Leader having a cold on the day on the day of filming, but it doesn’t help the communication.

That aside, it’s a fairly solid broadcast.  It seems that the political parties are more focused on not letting the googly of a political broadcast result in them hitting their own stumps, rather than attempt to hit it for six.

The comments section of the broadcast on YouTube watch page is also hilarious.  The YouTube commenting community are not known for their unconditional ‘on message’ support, so either there has been an outbreak of contentedness or the Labour Party have sent out a message asking friends to post.

The Labour Party have released this piece of online content which alerts people to the fact that the government’s decision to reduce the top rate of income tax from 50p to 45p for those earning over £1 million a year comes into effect on 6th April 2013.

Independent financial organisations have estimated that this will save around 13, 000 people, all earning £1million+ a year, around £100, 000 annually.  When you compare this saving to the overall reductions that a far greater number of people will experience (the millions of people on working benefits stand to lose around £500 per year) the policy can be made to seem incredibly unjust.

In his Labour Party Conference speech last year, Ed Miliband said: “Next April David Cameron will be writing a cheque to each and every millionaire in Britain” and the comms team at Labour HQ have taken that sentiment and put it in an image.

It’s a fairly dry piece of content.  It looks very staid and corporate.

When the Labour Party’s content is at its best it has spirit, energy and attitude.  The party’s comms needs to inspire people to get more involved or tickle them enough to share it with their (non-political) friends.

Using stock-looking-photography and creative vehicles like a cheque book are not the way to do this.

Comment to follow.

An unofficial poster for the Labour Party has been released which attacks the Prime Minister’s economic policy.

The advert, featuring David Cameron as a doctor, attacks the Conservative Party leader for sticking with his economic ‘Plan A’, regardless of the fact that the UK is hurtling towards a triple dip recession.

Here is an unofficial poster for the Labour Party which attacks David Cameron’s announcement that he will hold an in / out referendum on Europe by 2017.

The advert, which uses this week’s Economist front cover, accuses the Prime Minister of taking a reckless gamble with Britain’s future.

During yesterday’s House of Commons debate on Welfare Reform, in what was regarded by many as the best speech of the session, David Miliband referenced a poster the Labour Party ran in 1929 (above).

Conjuring up relevant imagery in political oratory is a very good tactic in the art of verbal persuasion and I’ve no doubt that Miliband’s  inclusion of this piece of historical communication helped lodge his contribution in the minds of the lobby correspondents.

Another smart thing about referencing a poster (or any image) in a speech is that it gives supporters something interesting to post on social networks to help spread the message.  The number of people who would post a link to a House of Commons speech (unless it’s one of clear seminal importance or contains something of absolute hilarity) to their social networks is fairly minimal.  However, punchy, political images are regular features of most peoples’ timelines.  Indeed the above image was doing the rounds last night.

Mentioning political adverts in speeches also helps get attention in mainstream media: journalists must tire of featuring footage and imagery of politicians standing at the despatch box or podium pleading their case.  By mentioning a poster or video it gives them an excuse to run the advert in their editorial, making it more likely to reach the eyeballs of those who would usually ignore features which review House of Commons debates.

If I was a speech writer I’d be busy researching relevant political imagery for my boss’s next big performance.