What’s in a song? For Doug Ford’s progressive conservatives, there seems to be a lot going on.
This election is the second time the PC has been the only Ontario party to follow the path to the sound of an original song written for the campaign.
Those who hear even an ear in the election will probably guess its name. Yes, you have. It’s called Get It Done, the same slogan spread across all PC campaign material.
And you may have heard it before. The song is the ubiquitous soundtrack of Ford’s rallies, stops, and positive announcements on television, radio, and online.
As the successor to the 2018 Ford song, For The People, CBC News decided to get some impromptu reviews from people, well, before revealing exactly what they were listening to.
“It’s poppy. It has a good vibe. It sounds very positive,” Chris Beck told a sidewalk in downtown Toronto. “It’s very sticky.”
Ali Mohammed and Freda Bizimana, also in Toronto, said it “sounded hopeful”. Bizimana had the annoying feeling that she had felt it before somewhere. “I like that energy,” Mohammed said.
Reactions were a little quieter after they learned it was a PC campaign song.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Mohammed said. “Pretty amazing,” Beck joked.
Ali Mohammed and Freda Bizimana, both musicians in Toronto, said they liked the positive atmosphere of the song. They both said they were surprised to learn that it was part of a political campaign. (CBC)
The song is really an advertisement in itself and the lyrics certainly draw an openly pink picture of Ford’s vision for Ontario.
But those initial reactions from listeners, PC voters and non-PC voters alike, are the kind of sentiment their camp hopes to provoke, according to a campaign source who spoke to CBC News on condition of anonymity.
The “Get It Done” brand is deliberately about looking ahead. PCs are betting heavily on the proposal that many voters simply want to move forward after more than two dark years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The song tries to capture that feeling in the form of audio, the source said.
How to kiss a baby, in the form of a song
Shana Almeida, a professor of communication at the Metropolitan University of Toronto, believes the song could serve as a “strategic tool to take advantage of a particular type of emotion that is specific to the pandemic.
“I think when you can take advantage of that, you get used to a bigger group of people, people on the fence, people undecided.”
It allows the party to control the message in a way that existing music would not. And a small sample of the lyrics (“No one said it was an easy path / And we won’t stop, we’ll never give up”) shows that they are vague enough to attract more than typical PC voters, Almeida said . , who worked for former NDP MP Olivia Chow during her time as City Council of Toronto.
TARGET | Listen to a snippet of the campaign song for PC:
Listen to a snippet of the “Get It Done” PC Campaign Song
PC leader Doug Ford plays the song at the stops and rallies of his campaign. It also appears in TV, radio, and online ads.
He said it’s like an auditory version of a politician holding and kissing a baby.
“When you see a politician holding a baby, you tend to forget some of the bad things they’ve done.”
The PC campaign has cut versions of different lengths for use in different contexts, so parts of the song appear in all media.
There’s an advertising concept called a “sound brand”: it creates an auditory experience that a listener immediately associates with a brand. Think of the McDonald’s jingle (Ba da ba ba ba ba). That’s part of what PCs hope to achieve with an original song, the campaign source said.
“Voters, and the general public, are really distracted right now,” the source said. “They’re just watching and listening to snippets of your campaign. That constant sound helps them tie it all together.”
Of course, producing an original song requires a campaign with the machinery and money to do so. How much money computers will not say. They also refused to reveal who composed and recorded the song.
Avoid any setbacks by artists
Eric Alper, a music publicist and radio presenter, said he believes it was “smart fashion” with no obvious disadvantage for Ford’s campaign to commission the play.
“They can claim this song as their own, so they know they won’t have any issues with copyright or artists saying they don’t want a song to be used,” he said from Toronto.
He pointed to cases of musicians denouncing politicians, most of whom are center-right. Canadian rocker Neil Young has publicly demanded that former U.S. President Donald Trump stop playing Rockin ‘in the Free World during the campaign, for example.
The PC song will appear heavily in announcements and rallies in the last week of the election campaign. (Chris Young / The Canadian Press)
Alper said the song’s structure makes good sense, even if it includes elements “clearly taken from the world of advertising.” It’s based on emotions rather than facts, and it’s easy enough to remember, he said.
“You want these die-hard fans to know the song and sing it while sitting in the car. Because it’s free advertising for the politician the moment they start having that song in their head,” Alper continued.
CBC News contacted Ontario’s NDP, Liberal and Green campaigns for their views on the song. None responded prior to posting.