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Branding the 2008 Election
Between semioticians and corporate branding experts there is, sometimes, not much of a difference; except that the latter are more practical about things. I want to refer you to the excellent blog of French branding consultant Claude Singer. In this post, Mr. Singer gives a few scratch-pad notes on the presidential election. And, you know, he’s got a point. About to go on radio to give a few thoughts on the Republicans and Democrats, he found himself furiously winnowing the two parties and their difference down to a bulleted distillate. Here is a piece of what he wrote.
Democrat values: Important #1 Social justice - care for the little guy… fight perceived oppression, discrimination, racism… BIG GOVERNMENT THE TOOL TO HELP 2 Demographic groups - minorities, women, homosexuals - (FDR put together famous coalition of labor, blacks, leftist intellectuals… today the agenda of diversity.) 3 Process - favor focus on legal process… ever notice that both Clintons, Kerry and Obama / Biden all lawyers?…(Gore studied law at Vanderbilt) — Reagan, Bush, McCain NOT lawyers…Republican values:
Important #1 Freedom - BIG GOVERNMENT THE IMPEDIMENT
Free individuals / free markets / private sector competition - vs. tariffs, taxes, regulations, govt-run monopolies
2 Strong national military - vs. USSR during Cold War, vs. Islamic Terror today… and this trumps #1 if necessary (i.e. encourage surveillance)
3 Traditional family organization and religious belief in right and wrongSarah Palin - Why so popular?
- True to herself - quality of authenticity… the voters smell a fake (like Edwards… that was Kerry’s problem, too… hence the efficacy of the charge of flip-flopping)…
- Her presence does not CHANGE the Republican brand. She revives it… Re-focuses it on Republican brand values.
- Like the iPod did for Apple… company was still not completely sure of itself… still a computer company… but iPod celebrated APPLE brand values: Youth / fun / easy to use / very personal / irreverent / simple technology / coolProblem of Palin for Democrats:
This is the kind of citizen they are SUPPOSED to help - the husband is a union member! - a real ordinary person… not big corp chieftain… and a woman! Not just appeal to Wal-Mart moms… She IS a Wal-Mart mom. (Authentic) Like an African-American who is not a liberal Democrat - Clarence Thomas! Does not fit their paradigm.
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