Six years ago I predicted Obama would win over Romney, largely because he was a ‘brand’ and Romney was not.
Tonight, Donald Trump takes on 16 co-hopefuls for the GOP nomination on a Fox televised debate. Great theatre. Trump, a non-Washington candidate, is ahead in the polls so he will be center-stage, surrounded by a sea of typical, dark suited, red tied politicians, who will look and sound pretty much the same. No one looks or sounds like Trump.
Now I am not smart enough to predict that he will be the next POTUS, but I can say that he is for now the lead GOP and unless someone creates a news worthy, sound byte, moment like Reagans ‘there you go again’ to Carter and/or, of course, Trump does not get trumped on some issue, then the Trump ‘rocket’ will keep shooting up.
This, of course, has very little to do with substance and, like it or not, this is the new way.
Our digitized world is based on shock headlines and stunning images. Fresh, new relevant brands get media attention and win quickly.
Obama was such a brand. His name was unique and gained awareness quickly. His story was simple and relevant … first African American, educated, articulate with a promise of ‘better’.
Romney was not such a brand. He looked and sounded like the typical Washington politician and his story was not clear. Even his name had little brand cache.
Trump knows all this.
The political pundits have been salivating over the chance to pick apart Trump’s policies, but quite frankly he is way too media savvy to let them.
Trump is a media brand. Say the word Trump and just about everyone can see a picture of him and the picture isn’t bad for the times. This tough, independent, successful businessman wears a suit and leads. His name is on buildings. He has been the ‘boss’ star of his own popular TV show. He owns beauty contests and knows how to ‘play the stage’. My guess is that his aided awareness is over 80% in the US. He has been in the mass public eye probably more often than all other candidates combined.
Interestingly his unique brand persona is actually now working for him. Brand awareness is one thing but if an audience can feel a little pain for a candidate and relate to see his or her humanity then the brand relationship grows fast. Trump’s weird hair and bruff, straight-talk style, have not stopped him so far and now if nothing else it keeps the cameras on him and people curious.
And at the end of the day, a simple brand story survives. For the less politically engaged voters, the Trump brand can easily be seen as a regular guy taking on Washington and winning, as opposed to ‘more-of-the-same failed’ politicians. The political insiders and pundits, who marvel at polls and seeing a continually growing Trump candidacy, will change their sage comments from negative to positive real fast.
Now my intent here is not to support or even predict the winner. I am just commenting on how in this world of politics a candidate’s brand, or lack there of, is the new X factor in predicting success.
And if I was in the Hillary Clinton camp right now I would be quite concerned about her brand persona. No question she has brand awareness but what is her story other than her e-mail issues etc.? How is she relating…first female President? Maybe?
What do you think? Let’s kick it around. In a few hours we can sit back and enjoy the spectacle.
We are brand growth experts and love to help do so. Look us up at www.rocketbranding.com and lets chat.
