Published in the National Business Review of 28 March 2008

Political advertising guru John Ansell describes himself as a distiller - "that's why I took a bottle of bourbon into my job interview with the National Party."

He may not be changing his drink preference but in this year's election campaign he is working for ACT.

I distill ideas, people, and policies into morsels that ordinary people can digest."

New Zealand's slide down the OECD league table of comparative living standards, "we have fallen another place to 22nd this year" - is distilled into the slogan 'bring your children back home".

The slogan promises a benefit. It's emotional as well as rational which helps ACT connect with women, a constituency it has previously neglected.

"The return of the 400 000 Kiwis in Australia will be possible when we have reversed the slide in our living standards and gone past Australia again," he says.

ACT is about guts, he believes. 'The guts to do the right thing' is one version of a campaign slogan he is playing with.

It's a basic word in a simple phrase and is consistent with John Ansell's commitment to simple English and simplified policy contrasts. "Men like it, women like it, but ladies don't."

Iwi/Kiwi, and excuses/exams dramatised the policy choices on billboards in the 2005 election.

"Keep your loved ones safe", and "teach your children well", are examples of policy commitments on law and order and education, expressed in language that voters can understand easily. It's benefits, not features in the language of marketing.

The tactic also takes ACT away from the Left's positioning of the party as ruthless slashes of services and sellers of the family silver.

ACT is about choice, and Mr Ansell cites the party's support of the Swedish socialist model of education where parents freely choose the school for the children, and the state pays.

On moving to ACT, "Roger Douglas rang and asked me to work for him. I said yes a few seconds later.

"ACT asked me to work for them in 2005, but I thought it better to work for the leader of the National Party who was going to implement ACT like polices.

"I like a challenge. I had always been told that ACT's policies weren't saleable. I disagree. They can be sold with heart and clarity and passion.

"In 2005 it was easy to do the billboards because the National brand was so clearly differentiated under the leader of the time. "It won't be as easy for National this time because the brand differentiation isn't as clear.

He rejects claims by Labour leaning blog The Standard that he would not get the National Party's advertising contract in 2008.

"This is absolutely not true, and three times I have tried to correct this, and each time I have been refused access. They have censored me."