I originally posted this on dailykos about five years ago. Watching the GOP struggle to define itself and to try like hell to position our Democratic brand again makes me think of this piece.
So... here:
A political campaign is a marketing effort, if nothing else, as we try to sell a leader--a person--to the majority of America. (A majority is usually enough.) One of the most important aspects of any marketing effort is successful branding. Branding consists not only of defining the brand, but also positioning the brand in the marketplace. (For the purposes of this discussion, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, John Kerry, etc. are not brands, but products.)
The DLC Problem
The DLC has done a terrible job of defining and positioning the Democratic brand. By co-opting much of what the RNC did to make the Republican brand “successful,” we have diluted our image considerably. We’ve now weakened ourselves to the point where we no longer control our image, which allows others to define it for us.
You’ll probably never see McDonald’s trying to increase their market share by being more like Burger King. That’s branding suicide. When folks go to McDonald’s, they’re taught to expect a family dining experience. If they want something made to appear more hip, they’ll go to Burger King, and that’s okay.
(theoria’s tummy is growling...)
The Clinton Problem
In addition to the damage done by trying to make our party more like the GOP, we have the long-lasting, adverse side-effects of Bill Clinton. As great as Clinton was for this country, he did a hell of a lot of damage to the Democratic brand. He was our spokesperson. When a big, national brand’s spokesperson is caught with his/her pants down, the brand takes a hit, no matter how you try to explain it away. (Hillary is a brand liability at the moment, but as time passes, I believe she will become an invaluable asset.)
Fixing the Problem
An earlier article on kos was dedicated to discussing a Unified Democratic Message. A lot of great discussion went on there. What struck me was how obvious the problem with our brand is.
If you asked anyone what the Republican brand was, they could tell you (as kos did) that the brand ostensibly stands for family values, patriotism and anti-tax. You might as well say it stands for puppies, chocolate and vacations. What’s not to like? Those wonderful thoughts come not from their policies, but from their positioning.
So.. what does our brand stand for… baby-killing, sodomy and less take-home pay? Gee, that sounds like fun. Of course this is not what we stand for, but over the course of many years, we’ve let the opposition define our brand. I’m not saying this is easy to overcome. Hell, our current opposition in this market includes the president, both houses, the supreme court and most importantly, the media. Make no mistake, we are in a helluva hole here!
As I mentioned earlier, our brand has been weakened by the DLC, and therefore successfully positioned by our competition. That is not a good thing. In the world of politics, a Republican is free to say that Democrats are god-hating faggots. In the corporate world, Burger King saying that McDonald’s is making their hamburgers out of rat-meat (which they don’t) would lead to a successful lawsuit. Not fair, but these are the rules by which we must play.
The only way to keep the opposition from positioning our brand for us is to send out a clear, loud message that defines the ethos of the Democratic brand. From down here in the hole that we are in, it’s just about impossible to affect the other guy’s brand by saying that it sucks, but for those GOP suits up there, we’re fish in a barrel. (This does not mean that we should stop saying that their brand sucks. People will eventually hear it.) Therefore, we must regain control of our brand, polish it up, distill it down to its essence and start struggling to reposition it ourselves. We can reposition theirs later, when we’re out of the hole and they’re down in the barrel.
The media is, of course, a huge component in this problem. This is akin to having a brand with no medium for advertising. Our competition gets all the free promotion they want, but we can hardly get it even if we pay for it. This is a tough situation, and the answer is far beyond the scope of this entry and the limits of my brain. To say that most media outlets have a conflict of interest on this issue is a grand understatement. But, we have to work with what we’ve got, which includes independent media like the Internet, and what will someday be a shiny new brand!
So, what will the shiny new image be? Let’s look at the old one.
The Republicans have successfully positioned the Democratic brand as being representative of:
1. Immorality
2. High Taxes
3. Weakness
4. Anti-American
5. Anti-Religion
6. Baby-Killing
7. Sodomy*
8. Tree-huggers that don’t want people to have jobs
Yes, many Republicans see sodomy as a bad thing.
Our goals then, in the effort to reposition this brand in the marketplace, is to take these issues on and spin them back into form.
Now, there are two breeds of spin. The GOP breed of spin is to outright lie, even when it is obvious. “Hi, I’m Bob Freeper. Black is white and up is down. Thank you.”
The other breed of spin is the very essence of marketing--careful structuring of the message. “Hello, I’m Bob Democrat. I believe in equality for every American, regardless of their race, their religion, or with whom they fall in love. Thank you.”
On the immoral count, we’re only going to be able to fight that by keeping a respectable distance from Willy and by being good. (Note to the Dem candidates: If one of you should win, try to resist the urge to get--or give--head in the Oral Office--unless it’s your significant other giving or getting.) As we define our brand, we also have the opportunity to take the notion of being good back from folks like the Christian Coalition. To us, “being good” can be about treating each other fairly, or the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few.
The rest of these issues have been talked about quite a bit, and deserve even more attention (see blank space below.) These issues must be addressed in a proactive manner if we are to regain control of our brand. Ignoring them, or changing the subject, will only prolong the agony.
*Distillation
We will not, and should not, try to be all things to all people. That leads only to compromised principles and eventually, complete unraveling. (Some would say that the party is already in the midst of this disaster. I sometimes agree.) Therefore, we need to distill our widely varied messages down to their most vital essence. Some of you may disagree with me, but guess what? Part of what is wrong with our party is that our message is scattered and incoherent. The more things we jam into our message, the weaker the signal becomes.
When I design an ad for a client, we start with a series of meetings to chat about the product or service. I take copious notes and head to the drawing board. When I return, I have an ad that may only consist of a graphic and a super-strong headline. Sometimes the client is resistant, because I haven’t mentioned every last detail about their wicket, including it’s history and each of the 1001 things that it can do for Joe Average. Well, sometimes I win and sometimes I lose, but I can tell you from experience that the less cluttered message always gets a better response. Always.
People do not want too much information, even in a political campaign. They read more than three sentences and they are lost. BOINK, time to move on to the next thing. “Oooh, look… tanks and machine guns on television!” This is why commercials are loud, colorful and pointed. You all know that Joe’s attention span is very, very short.
We do not need a manifesto to define ourselves. We do not need a mission statement. We need a positioning statement.
dKos member “537 votes" reminded us of what is possibly the most important positioning statement of all:
“We the people of the United States will form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”
We must define ourselves.
