Sadiq Khan’s campaign are running a new advertisement featuring the Labour candidate for London Mayor looking relaxed alongside a flustered Shaun Bailey.
The Labour candidate’s star quality is undoubtedly the most motivating aspect of the campaign for most voters; the decision to have Khan looking supremely confident as the focal point of this ad is a good one.
The art directional trick of having Bailey sliding off the side of the ad is clever too. It’s a quiet way of (literally) depositioning his opponent.
The biggest threat to Khan’s chances is voters thinking the result is in the bag for Labour and so not turning out.
There is also a small risk of voters giving a pity vote to one of the crank candidates and Bailey creeping through the middle.
For that reason this ad is all about reminding voters that there’s only two candidates that have a genuine chance of winning.