Brands

It is a political year so a discussion of politics and business is appropriate. In the political discourse you will often hear business terms used. Among the most commonly used are brand and positioning. First, let’s explore the use of branding in politics.

Since our first president and political parties emerged, these parties have taken on brand identities. These identities are closely related to positioning—something I will discuss separately—but it is important to know that brands have value. Consider Apple, Corporation and the brand value it has built over the years. Because of its brand, people are willing to pay a premium for their MP3 players and other products. Companies make explicit efforts to build a brand that conveys perceived value to consumers. The band must be both known and be associated with something having value (i.e., cool, slick electronic devices).

In the case of the political parties they already have known brands (have name recognition). They must, however, work to develop perceived value or offer a value proposition that attracts a broad coalition of voters. The Republican Party over the last 50 years is a good example. In the early 1960s republicans were mostly indistinguishable to the Democratic Party. This is a bad place to be if you are clearly in a market share deficit as they were at that time (they were K-Mart to the Democrats Wal-Mart).

Today, many pundits refer to the Reagan revolution that was started by Goldwater in 1964 and continued in 1980 with Reagan’s election and then culminated in 1994 under Gingrich. Reagan helped create a new coalition of fiscal conservatives (sometimes called blue dog democrats), social conservatives, and libertarians and created a new brand that effectively differentiated the parties. The value proposition of the new Republican Party was limited government, strong defense to defeat communism, and tax cuts. This vaulted the part from a decidedly minority party to a majority party by 1994. Over this period republicans worked diligently to create a specific brand image. So what has happened since?