How much emotional impact does politics really have? While it's easy to sneer about the lack of difference between the main parties, it's certainly true that deeply held tribal beliefs and core ideologies are less of a force in politics today than they have been in the past.

Yesterday, on the eve of the closest election in a generation, 40 per cent of us were apparently still undecided. So if the products are essentially the same, all that's left to choose is the most appealing brand. It's a curious paradox that just as political marketing is coming of age, we seem to value political brands less than ever.

Where once political brands were seared into the hearts of a population trenchantly defined along class lines, these days even the Conservatives are happy to focus on change, using a tree as their logo. As the televised leadership debates have made clear, old-fashioned politics is dead. The soundbite has conquered substance. On TV, one wayward hand gesture, or laboured joke, can send opinion polls into a spin.

This election is as unpredictable as it is because of the "floating voters", that is voters who haven't fully bought into any of the party brand propositions. In truth, many people invest more emotion in the votes cast for X-Factor than the X they'll place in the box today. Many would be more exercised by a change in the formula of Marmite or a new product from Apple than they will be about a change in government. Few, other than a minority of activists, define themselves by political brand.

This stems partly from the fashion for research-led policy. The similarities between the main parties are so strong because that's the stuff that's popular with focus groups. The problem for politicians becomes one of how to package those policies to appeal to the most voters. But a brand built on packaging will never be as engaging as a brand built on innovation and service delivery.

The curiously polite spectacle of the leaders' debates, in front of a live audience deprived of the power to respond, hardly helps. It's all too sanitised. Of course, the expenses scandal has reduced the value of all political brands in this country and it might take a major overhaul of our electoral system to rebuild the trust that lies at the heart of all brand value. Whether that electoral reform happens depends on the votes cast today. Without it, UK politics will be further diminished. 

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