Can you imagine being at the helm of a major corporation, tasked with selling its brand in multiple markets albeit with one proviso: you can’t refer to it, at least not directly.

Essentially, this is the predicament Micheál Martin finds himself in.

In Monday’s televised debate, the Fianna Fáil leader defended his party’s policies in typically combative style, unleashing a few well-aimed salvos at opponents along the way.

For the 93 minutes he was on his feet, he never once mentioned the words Fianna Fáil.

The brand is now so toxic that even its leader, the commander and chief, dare not speak its name. The party’s logo on some of its election posters is so small that it’s almost impossible to discern from a distance. Even the Facebook and Twitter logos are on average bigger than the party’s.  In Wednesday  night’s TG4 debate, Martin was similarly ill-disposed to make direct references to the party.

The Fianna Fáil is being advised by US political consultant Tad Devine, a strong exponent of the principle: “you never mention the contaminated product”.

Doubtless, the tactic is to distance the candidates from the party’s past, no mean feat when you’ve been in government for 17 of the last 20 years.

Martin’s constant mantra about a fresh approach to politics and his strong stance on Dáil reform signal his desire to break with the party’s tarnished legacy.

However, the problem for Martin and Fianna Fáil is that they cannot escape their responsibility for so much of what went wrong. Party insiders quietly concede that there is little Fianna Fáil can do to avoid the imminent electoral bloodbath.

John Fanning, who lectures in branding and marketing communications at Smurfit Business School, believes Martin will not be in position to embark on a “New Labour-like” rebranding process until after the election when he will have freehand to appoint his own shadow cabinet and voter anger at this administration subsides somewhat.

The fact that the party is not spending money on a national advertising campaign is proof, if proof were needed, that it has already “ceded defeat”, he says.

“What Martin is doing is running a campaign to minimise seat losses and to position Fianna Fáil to make some kind of respectable showing at next election [in five years time]. It’s a damage limitation exercise.”

Despite the dramatic collapse in support, Fanning believes the party is still the most professionally run vote-getting organisation in the country. “There’s no reason to suggest that a lot of the expertise is not still there.”

A party in its position has little alternative but to target a select number of seats where it has done well previously and push aspect of the candidates’ personality or record that still sells, says Fanning.

“They’re better off spending money on market research in these constituencies where they do have a chance of holding seats rather than on a national campaign,” he says.

A well-placed insider said Martin was taking what he described as the bad dog approach; he’s eaten his master’s slippers and knows he has to go out into the back garden for a couple of years.

“There’s no point in Fianna Fáil buying into a big brand concept to communicate with the electorate because they know they’re screwed and it would only be a waste of money.”

In contrast, Fine Gael is running a national advertising campaign under the rather bland slogan “Let’s Get Ireland Working” which has a faint echo of the famous Saatchi & Saatchi Tory campaign slogan “Labour’s Not Working”.

Because of the well-publicised problems with selling Kenny as a future taoiseach to the electorate, the party is promoting him as the chairman, fronted by a team of heavy-hitters like Varadkar, Noonan and Bruton.

One individual, who worked on the party’s campaign, said there was nothing new in Fine Gael’s strategy as it has struggled in the past to get its leaders to be viewed as taoiseach material.

“John Bruton was widely criticised before he got in and was subsequently seen to have done a good job. Kenny may be on a similar trajectory,” he suggested.

“It is not unusual for Fine Gael to have a leader who doesn’t set the world on fire before he gets in but ends up doing a competent job when he does.”

He cites Brian Farrell’s famous book, Chairman or Chief: The role of the Taoiseach in Irish government, saying Fianna Fáil tend to go for chiefs while Fine Gael tend to opt for consensus building chairmen.

Several observers said it was a testament to Kenny’s abilities that barely a year after a divisive assault on his leadership, he was fronting a united team which stands on the brink of election victory.

In contrast to Fine Gael, Labour’s campaign has been focused solely around Eamon Gilmore, reflecting the leader’s strong standing in polls.

However, critics have claimed the “Gilmore For Taoiseach” slogan has not resonated with voters.

One party insider conceded the campaign was having more success in Dublin than elsewhere. He said each of the three main parties was “very deliberately” playing to their strengths, with Fine Gael projecting a strong team image in contrast to Labour and Fianna Fáil who remain focused on the attributes of their “charismatic” leaders.

Election posters, he said, have as much to do with the morale of the troops as they have with persuading voters.

“Of course, they’re about getting candidates into the minds of voters but they’re also about reassuring activists that the party believes in itself. The day you are ashamed of your brand is the day you are losing,” he said.