Brownz brandz

Matthew d'Ancona says there'll be a new boy in the Brown team from today, when David Muir is appointed as Director of Political Strategy. The appointment's interesting because of Muir's background - for the last decade or so he's been a big noise at Martin Sorrell's WPP advertising giant. He's particularly known for his book The Business of Brands, which seeks to bring some serious analysis to the hand-wavy world of brands and what they're worth.

Given that Brown's biggest problem is arguably his image - indecisive, dour, unable to smile authentically - Muir can obviously add real value. But what does it say for Brown's aspirations to be a "serious" Prime Minister, in comparison with the perceived bling of the Blair years, that he's appointing an ad man to run his political strategy? Or did he just really, really like Mad Men?