Gallery - Election Advertising

Out of our heads.

– Bob Harvey has a quick answer for the question 'where did you get your ideas'?

We were just making it very easy for them to read, which is our job.

– One of the MacHarman's team on getting Labour's message across to voters in 1969

We had to do something interesting, something a little bit different, we had to enthuse people...there's a tremendous amount of political apathy in New Zealand with people. They're aware but they're not really very interested.

– One of the MacHarman's team on the mindset of New Zealand in the late 1960s

The advertising has changed the shape of the Labour Party in New Zealand and in the next three years they'll build on this and become the government.

– Bob Harvey on the surge of confidence in the Labour Party despite their 1969 election loss

The public relations man made Nixon...I'm sorry to think.

– Bob Harvey feels good PR made Richard Nixon electable to American voters, near the end of this report

I worked for Bob Harvey who was crazy — good crazy. One time we all had to go out to his house in Henderson while he showed us the latest thing from America. It was on Super 8, he had a projector. And it was Sesame Street. The colours and the vivacity and the brashness — Bob wanted us to make everything look like that.

– Artist Dick Frizzell recalls working with Bob Harvey, The NZ Herald, 9 June 2015

Early on, the ad man with a love of politics hitched his star to Labour. He worked at the heart of their election campaigns, starting with Norman Kirk and ending, somewhat sidelined, with Helen Clark. ... Harvey uses the term "brilliant" to describe the Mad Men days in advertising. He mined ideas from America, hired sharp talent and MacHarman Advertising, the firm he helped create ... gave the established agencies a shove ... "There was a lot of dope involved, music played, all-night parties, unacceptable now, but in the 60s and 70s it was as bad as it got."

– Excerpt from an interview with former Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey, The NZ Herald, 26 July 2014

Bob's greatest triumph ... that was a surprisingly modern advertising campaign coming out of an era of very bland, boring crap.

– Bill Ralston on MacHarman's 1969 election campaign, in 2014 book Wild Westie - The Incredible Life of Bob Harvey, page 102

The split-screen commercial blew everybody's socks off. In advertising circles they sat around with their mouths hanging open.

– MacHarman's staffmember Ross Carpenter looks back on the Make Things Happen advert, in 2014 book Wild Westie - The Incredible Life of Bob Harvey, page 102

It's not their fault, though. I think with politics it's...people that talk down to the people. For too long politicians have talked down, underrated...I think the viewer at home is fairly sophisticated, I really do.

– One of the MacHarman's team on not patronising potential voters

We were Mad Men look-a-likes. Our agency was bursting with creativity, with the most amazing group of artists, filmmakers, musicians and others — all leaders in their own right. And I doubt we would have achieved it all had we been obsessed with the online world.

– Excerpt from an interview with former 'ad man' Bob Harvey, The NZ Herald, 17 August 2013