UPDATED: Re-branding the Democrats; honing the message


Barbara Boxer mastered it; Oliver Willis is working on it

I've been having a little side discussion with the a couple guys from the county Democratic Party committee about branding and messaging. Basically, people generally seem to agree that this is where the Democrats missed their opportunity. If you simply go issue by issue; if you simply ask people how they think Bush is doing as President; if you simply ask the good old right track/wrong track question...it seems inconceivable that the Republicans would win.

But the one thing they kick ass on is branding and messaging. The Democrats presented a hodge-podge of every good idea in the world, but didn't unify them under a single banner. Perhaps early on the Kerry campaign tried to do so under his war-time hero banner. But the Republicans were "Swift" with the Smackdown.

Of course, some Democrats did get it. Take Barbara Boxer . A huge liberal...and a huge win in California. In fact, Barbara got the 3rd most votes of any candidate in the country, behind only Bush & Kerry. Yes, she got more votes than Nader did nationally. Her secret? She kept her brand simple: "I'm a fighter." And she focused on two messages: "I'll fight for choice" and "I'll fight for Californians health care."

Did she talk about the war, about the deficit, about jobs, even? Not so much. But she managed to convince more than just Democrats that she would fight for the interests of our state.

Boxer is like McCain: she has managed to maintain the illusion of independence and forthrightness in the dirty game that is politics. (And I think it is more of an illusion in McCain's case, given his unfortunate decision to become Bush's butt-boy during this campaign.) In fact, she's even a bit like Bush. Plenty of non-liberals voted for her, and if you asked I bet they'd say, "I don't agree with her on everything, but at least I know where she stands." Sound familiar?

So, the Democratic Party in general needs to learn from Boxer's success. Know your brand...that's the first step of course. And construct simple, and few, messages around it.

Oliver Willis is a blogger who's working on that. he's got a series of proposed re-branding ads to propose to the Democrats.

I like them all.

UPDATED: You can now buy some of Oliver's branding work on casual apparel (Tees and sweatshirts) at CafePress.com. Just in time for the holidays!

Posted: Sat - November 20, 2004 at 10:29 AM       EmailFeedback

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