In advertising, the federal election has already started

The federal election expected for Oct. 19 is six months away, but Canada's political parties are already running campaign-style ads.

Here's a look at how the parties are trying to frame their opponents months ahead of the campaign.

In this ad, which premiered on March 26, the NDP takes aim at Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. In type and visuals, the ad claims Trudeau has no clear plan regarding the war in Syria and Iraq, and cites this as more proof that Trudeau isn't ready to be prime minister.

If that sounds like a familiar refrain, it's because the Conservatives have been saying something similar for two years.

Meanwhile, the Liberals have claimed to be taking the high road and refraining from running attack ads … until now:

That ad started running during NHL playoff games on April 24. In type and visuals, it asks if viewers are enjoying all the government ads that it says have cost taxpayers $750-million over the past nine years.

The ad playfully takes the voice of the Conservative Party with a reference to "our ads," and a quick "thank you" from Stephen Harper. But since it's then signed off with the Liberal logo, some viewers may be left wondering if "our ads" means Liberal ads.

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Making "me-too" claims like the NDP and running slightly fuzzy attack ads like the Liberals is child's play compared with the sophisticated marketing strategies employed by the party that won the last three elections.

The Conservatives don't run their attack ads in isolation.

Benefiting from messaging synergy, ads like that run in sync with government ads like this:

Similarly, the Conservatives run ads like this …

... and the message coordinates with government messages like this:

And making the synergy between party ads and government ads even more effective, Government of Canada ads now carry the slogan "Strong. Proud. Free."

There are two reasons that slogan sounds familiar. One, because it echoes words in O Canada. And two, because of Conservative Party ads like this:

And Conservative Party ads like this:

While NDP and Liberal ads make scattered attempts at criticizing the governing party, the Conservatives are able to take full advantage of their position as governing party.

By syncing both the content and timing of party ads with government ads, a much clearer, more integrated, more memorable message is delivered to pre-election taxpayers. And, the governing party can achieve all this synergy using significant quantities of taxpayer dollars.