Boondoggle fires the starting pistol for the sp.a campaign

Boondoggle's first stage of the election campaign for sp.a is intended to bring home the message sharply. Frank Vandenbroucke, Kathleen Van Brempt and Caroline Gennez look the reader directly in the eye from full-page black and white advertisements in newspapers and magazines, along with this message: “If you don’t want to hear anything from sp.a, then just listen to what’s going on”.

The tenor of the adverts is clear: The situation is serious and that will require careful consideration on June 7. It is important that sp.a should have a future say in policy in the current social-economic climate, as opportunities will be lost in Flanders if sp.a does not take part in the decision-making process. If sp.a had not contributed to policy over the last few years, then not everyone would have benefited equally from the job bonus that’s the talk of the town these days, there would not have been any study allowances or maximum levels set for contributions to extracurricular activities, there would have been fewer and more expensive childminding places available, and the building industry would not have received a boost through a large investment in social housing.

Each advert ends with the baseline “sp.a Now more than ever” and expressly invites everybody to enter into a dialogue with the party leaders through the sp.a website, where Vandenbroucke, Van Brempt and Gennez have provided an audio-visual version of their narrative (in full-screen, black and white film clips). Anybody can respond immediately to their personal e-mail addresses and enter into a discussion.

A number of large street events will take place in Leuven, Ghent, Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp on 6 March. Images of the party leaders and the campaign headline (“If you don’t want to hear anything from sp.a, then just listen to what’s going on”) will be displayed on several metres high large panels along the streets. Headsets attached to the panels will allow passers-by to listen to what Frank Vandenbroucke, Kathleen Van Brempt and Caroline Gennez have to say. The senior party people and provincial representatives will be present at these events, so everybody will be able to enter into a personal dialogue with them.

Boondoggle’s intention is that the campaign resolutely moves sp.a into the spotlight. In recent months, sp.a has been a party undergoing regeneration, but that is now a thing of the past. The party has stepped assertively out of the shadows and taken up the baton within the socio-economic debate with the interests of all at heart.

The choice of explicitly targeting voters who are considering not casting their lot with sp.a is a well-considered one, given recent polls. Sp.a is saying to those doubters: Don’t throw away your vote on another party. The party will meet all voters – even those not considering sp.a – looking them squarely in the eye, chest out and chin held high with the courage generated by its own convictions in heart and soul.