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Branding the politicians: Sarah Palin and David Cameron
April 6th, 2010On the day that a long-awaited UK General Election is called, two very different politicians have been branding themselves. Each has lessons for marketers and businesspeople generally.
Firstly, Sarah Palin. Here in the UK we may consider her a ‘failed’ politician having left the office of Governor of Alaska – albeit voluntarily – and having failed to make it to the White House as Vice President for the Republicans.
But while she may have dropped out of public attention over here, over in America she is back in business, having reinvented herself as a major brand.
In a piece titled “How Sarah Palin Became a Brand,” (quoted by Abe Sauer on brandchannel.com ) The New York Times notes, “After her failed bid for the vice presidency, she was more or less told to head back to Alaska to serve out her term as governor — a kind of metaphorical kitchen.”
As Abe says, “Of course, Palin didn’t go back. Instead, she quit her job and began the process of turning herself into a “one-woman national media empire,” releasing a book, touring the nation as a speaker, and now hosting a Fox News show.”
To do this Sarah used ‘prime mover advantage’ i.e. she got into something new very early on. In her case, she was one of the very first to see the potential of the Tea Party movement (www.teapartypatriots.ning.com) , a community dedicated to upholding traditional Republican ideals and financial conservatism.
Sarah is now a major spokesperson for the conservative Republications throughout America, See http://voices.washingtonpost.com/behind-the-numbers/2010/03/sarah_palin_and_the_tea_party.html for The Washington Post’s recent poll results on her approval rating.
Love her or hate her, we have not heard the last of Sarah Palin!
The second politician benefitting from branding is also conservative, this time with a large ‘C’.
In this case, David Cameron has benefitted from association with a great ‘brand’- that of TV detective Gene Hunt of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes fame.
A spectacular ’own goal’ had Labour grafting David Cameron’s face onto a promotional poster of Gene Hunt for Ashes to Ashes saying ‘Don’t let him take Britain back to the 1980s’.
As a bemused Times noted a ‘Cash-strapped Labour held a competition for the new campaign poster to save money on their election advertising. The winning design by activist Jacob Quagliozzi, 24, from St Albans, Herts, was then worked-up by Labour’s advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi.’
At a single stroke Labour ‘grafted’ onto David Cameron a large number of ‘brand values’ he did not have before – namely grit, drive, urban sex appeal, street cred and working class credentials.
The recognition of this piece of genius re-branding came when the Conservatives only four hours ‘stole’ the theme with their own version with the slogan ‘Fire up the Quattro. It’s time for change’.
It would be nice to think that this was part of strategy to re-brand Cameron ‘for the people’ but sadly it was most likely a happy accident.
It is strange to think that the Conservatives may win the Election of May 6 through a piece of accidental re-branding!
For Abe’s article see: ttp://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/04/05/Sarah-Palin-Is-Branding-101.aspx
Tags: branding, David Cameron, politics, Sarah Palin
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It will be interesting to see what happens to both politicians – especially Sarah Palin – in the next few years.
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