Can You Name The Campaign? Building the Brand in Politics and Business

This blog is not will not make a political statement or endorse any candidate for President. The blog looks at the race from a branding perspective to glean any lessons.

As the election grinds on the Republican field is down from 17 candidates to just a few. On the Democratic side, it is a two-person race versus the anticipated coronation of Hillary Clinton. No matter what your political leaning, 2016 will go down in history as one of the most unusual and interesting elections.

Presidential elections are great exercises in marketing. Campaign strategists must create crisp messages to meet the needs of targeted constituencies. Early on, campaigns need to attract donors and volunteers who will eventually motivate their followers to get out and vote.   Each candidate has a brand, and in fact, is a brand with a clear promise, themselves.

As with any brand, a successful campaign needs to have a clear message, a clear promise, and key points supporting the message. A slogan captures the spirit of the promise in a snappy and succinct way. The slogans of the key candidates are listed below in the column on the left. The column on the right lists the candidates in alphabetical order. Can you match the slogans to the candidates? (The answers are at the end of the blog.)

Campaign Slogan	Presidential Candidate
Reignite the Promise of America	Dr. Ben Carson
Kasich for US	Hillary Clinton
A New American Century	Ted Cruz
Hillary for America	John Kasich
A Future to Believe In	Marco Rubio
Make America Great Again	Bernie Sanders
Heal + Inspire + Revive	Donald Trump

 TaglineGuru surveyed 250 branding, marketing, and advertising executives to rank the slogans based on the following criteria:

Memorability – are they catchy and memorable?

Authenticity – do they capture the individual style of the candidate and spirit of the campaign?

Likability – do they tell a fun and inviting story?

Interestingly, Bernie Sanders’ original slogan of “A Political Revolution is Coming” was ranked the highest at the time. Sanders has since changed his slogan to “A Future We Can Believe In.” Sanders must not have seen the survey results, or felt that he is more believable and credible than the other candidates and therefore changed the promise.

Excluding the Sanders slogan, the TaglineGuru survey results ranked the slogans from best to least best:

1.      Reignite the Promise of America

2.      A New American Century

3.      Hillary for America

4.      Heal + Inspire + Revive

5.      Make America Great Again

6.      Kasich for US

You can decide if you agree with the experts.

Let’s briefly look at the slogans to see how they support the candidate’s message.

Hillary Clinton’s “Hillary for America” touts her deep experience for the job. “Kasich for US” supports his message of bringing the country together to get Washington working again. If you listen to the candidates talking points, you will hear these messages repeatedly.

Reignite the Promise of America, A New American Century, and Make America Great Again, all have the same premise of ensuring American “exceptionalism” after eight years of a Democratic administration. These candidates talk about how they believe the Obama administration has taken the U.S. in the wrong direction and they will oversee a course correction.

So far, the voters of the two parties are attracted to almost polar opposite brands. Democratic voters are overwhelmingly supporting Hillary Clinton and her message that she has the experience to be a stable and competent executive. Republican voters, on the other hand, are supportive of the Donald Trump promise of Making America Great Again through the skills he has acquired as a successful businessperson and having no ties to the “establishment.” Not surprisingly, the Republican voters are more energized around electing a fresh candidate versus the Democratic voters who are very familiar with Secretary Clinton.

What lessons are there for businesses in looking at these campaign slogans?

1. The message and promise are critical. Just as a candidate must be clear about the platform he or she in running on, a business must be clear about its purpose and what it delivers to their customer. While presidential candidates must be able to answer the question, “why do you want to be president,” every business must be able to answer the question, “what is your mission and in so doing what do you promise to deliver?”

   2. Presidential candidates repeat their messages. Moreover, they have to say it each time like it is the first time they are saying it. There are at least two reasons for this. (1) Every time a candidate speaks there are likely people that are hearing the message for the first time so the candidates must sound fresh. (2) People need to hear the same thing nearly a dozen times before they actually remember it and potentially accept it.  

    This is true for businesses as well. Whether talking with customers or employees business executives need to have a clear message that they hammer home repeatedly.  Do you recall “Pin Drop”- the message and promise of a quiet communications advocated by Sprint for many years? When done properly, the target audience will understand what makes the company different and why they should buy its products or services.

     3. Candidates must have a track record supporting their positions. People will want confirmation and validation of those messages. This is also true for companies and their executives. If part of a company’s message is great customer service, it had better have great customer service continually.   

In summary, both politicians and companies need a clear reason for being, a clear promise i.e. message to their target audience or constituency, communicate that promise repeatedly, and have a track record supporting their assertions.

C-Level Partners exists to help small to middle market companies improve their business performance. Our managing directors are owners of the firm and have long careers of helping companies envision and create the future. 

Our brand promise is to help you grow revenue and improve margins and we back it up with a “pay for what you believe is fair” guarantee.    More importantly, our Managing Directors can back up this promise with a history of accomplishments.   

If you have any thoughts you would like to share about this blog please leave a comment and feel free to forward it to your friends and colleagues. Also, if you would like to discuss any branding, strategy or business issues, please contact me at ddrent@clevelpartners.net or call me at 714-290-3892.

Answer to Quiz

Campaign Slogan	Presidential Candidate
Reignite the Promise of America	Ted Cruz
K for US	John Kasich
A New American Century	Marco Rubio
Hillary for America	Hillary Clinton
A Future to Believe In	Bernie Sanders
Make America Great Again	Donald Trump
Heal + Inspire + Revive	Dr. Ben Carson