Branding an Election

There will be no politics discussed here! That said, the presidential campaigns are fascinating when viewed through the lens of branded storytelling. If you’re up for it, try this experiment. Pick the Presidential candidate you don’t presently support. Now, look at that candidate’s core story. Who are the characters in it? What is the plot? Where is the story set? Is there conflict and does it resolve or is it a cliff-hanger? What is the emotion evoked? Also, what’s the logline?-the pure short sentence or phrase that frames the tale and makes you want to “read the book”.

Once you do this for the “other candidate”, then do it for “your candidate”. After you develop what the two stories are, step back and see how they make you feel. That feeling is a good barometer of the relative strength of each brand-whether it feels “good” or not! People vote their feelings. Brexit is a recent great example of a vote that, based on facts and data should have gone the other way. One of the things effective brands must do better than ever before is evoke that emotional response, and do it efficiently and quickly. We live in a noisy universe crowded with conflicting stories delivered at light speed and at a frequency that confounds even the most diligent concentration and focus. The ones we “hear”, are the ones that make us feel affinity. This is the basis of the new “likeonomics”. It transcends “mere facts” and sells everything, including Presidents.