Gruen Nation premieres tonight – Wed, August 14th at 8:30pm (EST) on ABC1 with The Works’ Kevin Macmillan vs Ed Berridge from Oddfellows

Gruen Nation will premiere tonight – Wednesday, August 14 at 8:30pm (EST) on ABC 1 with Dr John Hewson: former leader of the Federal Liberal Party; Lachlan Harris: former Kevin Rudd media adviser; and Annabel Crabb: author and ABC political commentator on the panel.

An election campaign is a three year stock take sale where every item is sold as a bargain, but we all know they’re defective and can’t be returned. At Gruen Nation, our six-pillar plan guarantees that we won’t talk policy. We’re interested in how the big brands – Labor and Liberal, Nationals and Greens, Katter and Palmer – convince us to buy them.

Over the next four weeks, Gruen Nation host Wil Anderson and regulars Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft will try to disentangle the 24 hour, multi-platform spin tornado that is Election 2013, asking the tough questions like, why does Tony Abbott want to be Martin Sheen? What led up to the moment when Kevin Rudd thought Instagramming his shaving cut would be a good idea? And, if Polish politicians can make death metal campaign songs, why can’t ours?

Gruen Nation will offer up, and dissect, a feast of messaging brilliance and bunkum – not just from our country, but from around the world. Joining our advertising gurus is an impressive cast of political insiders and campaign veterans.

In tonight’s episode, the GRUEN team examines:

• Slogans, Jingles, Commercials – We run the x-ray machine across the opening ads of campaign 2013, the first efforts from the Labor Party, The Liberal Party, The Nationals and The Greens. Why are their slogans so bland? Why are their ads pretty much the same as last time? Why is the Greens ad so eerily familiar?
• What Would Poland Do? How do politicians from the home of the world’s most amazing election advertising get their messages across?
• The Small Picture – Where we focus on life’s little things. In tonight’s case, the obsession that Kevin Rudd, AKA Captain Selfie, has with uploading pictures of himself on Instagram and Twitter. And what he and Tony can learn about image management from global dictators?
• The Pitch:  Kevin Macmillan from The Works vs Ed Berridge from Oddfellows
• The Brief:  We asked two agencies to write election songs, one for Rudd’s Labor and one for Abbott’s Liberals. Can they sing their way into our hearts?
• On The Trail – Would Sunday night’s leaders’ debate have been better if it was on a sloping stage? Or if it had judges with their backs turned? What’s the point of being an underdog? And why don’t Kevin’s minders tell him to stop it with the crazy hand movements?