Here we are again in yet another horrific season of President picking.

Heat up the popcorn and pull up a chair for prime viewing of the gutter sniping and the demeaning back and forth. And believe me now that we have the Internet and all its ‘gotcha’ info we are going to hear about every single misstep that any candidate has made at any time in their entire life. Oh boy!

Let’s have a little fun at least and Rocket Brand the winning strategy for a candidate.

We’ll apply the Rocket Branding principles of Growth, Focus and Simple.

What does rapid growth look like for the winning candidate brand?

That’s pretty clear. Everyone in America and for the matter, the world, wants to work. They want a job. So the winning candidate will grow votes rapidly if he (assuming an Obama/Romney choice) can promise more jobs than the other. The key here is promise because obviously proof is in the future once elected. This is where branding comes in. Branding is a belief.

So rapid growth (votes) for the winning brand will come from creating the belief that they will secure more jobs. So that’s the Growth, what about Focus and Simplicity?

So where is the brand Focus for this Growth?

The jobs need is pervasive and affects everyone. Even the ungodly rich and powerful still need the masses working to fuel the economies.

So the focus is not necessarily on a demographic. It is somewhat philosophic however. It’s the old 30% rule. 30% love you (your base), 30% hate you and the 30% in the middle make the difference . So lets focus the brand on the 30% in the middle ‘undecided’ mindset.

Now we know from successful Rocket Brands that creating a belief in a brand is very emotional. Sure you can look at the record of each candidate and see which one has proven their job growing history and create all sorts of reassuring images and messages about their proven successes. Unfortunately with today’s gotcha, ‘go get em’ media mentality, and the gifted ‘spin doctors’ on both sides, it’s unlikely that either candidate will be able to sell any clarity around their jobs record.

So lets dig into this emotional mind set especially among the undecided in the middle. What’s going on? What emotion is behind all this? Why is having a job so darn important right now?

Ready for it? The answer is actually quite simple. We are in an age of unparalleled uncertainty. There is no emotion that is more debilitating than uncertainty. Today in the world every facet of all our future life is vague to say the least. All economies are essentially in trouble with pretty sad prospects for future rebound. Personal security for our families is at risk worldwide from invisible enemies (terrorists, cyber terrorists) and even nature appears to be rebelling. We want some degree of certainty. At least being able to get up each day, go to work and get paid is a sign of some certainty. Not having a job with all this uncertainty creates even more despair and uncertainty.

So the Focus is on getting key undecided’s’ SOB’s (source of business target) to vote for the candidate based on their belief that that candidate will provide the jobs and more deftly the bigger sense of certainty that is sorely needed.

Finally then what is the Simple brand message and image for the winning candidate ‘brand’ here?

Certainty’ is certainly a powerful emotion but is also very tough to promise without proof. How can one be certain unless one knows? There is however a brand platform that if executed with confidence and surety can create the belief in certainty. Yes you are right. It is the platform of leadership…with a big ‘L’.

Our history is built on the back of leaders that have mustered the forces and lead us out of the darkness. Clearly it is very hard to point to one country in the world right now that has a strong, credible leader. Arguably Reagan was probably the last one of that breed of US leaders that showed those values of stature, courage and resolve in the face of both security and economy problems.

So this being true, Rocket Branding would suggest that the candidate that wishes to win this election, and early in the process, will the very wise to truly build a brand based on Leadership. And the first sign of this will the one that decides to sell a jobs plan and a vision of certainty rather than focusing their time on money on just beating up the other one.

Make sense?

It will be interesting to see if either candidate takes advantage of this leadership branding? Perhaps we should add a little pep to the unfolding theatre of the elections by establishing a Rocket Branding Leadership barometer or Index and see how high the winner scored. What do you think fellow Rocket Branders?