On Friday, Andrew Sullivan, the English conservative author and political commentator, titled one of his Daily Dish posts, "It's Not Just the Brand." In it he references John Kahn's post at thenextright.com, "Poll: Is Our Message More Effective Without GOP Label?," which contrasts the public's view of the Republican Party's message with their view of its image (a.k.a. "brand" to Sullivan).
Kahn's post highlights some very interesting findings of a new poll on this question: What do voters think of the Republican message when it isn’t attached to the GOP label? Kahn writes that the poll's data "is a perfect way to test whether voters:
A. Like what we have to say but simply don't trust us after Bush, Iraq, Katrina, overspending, the bridge to nowhere, endless scandals (need I go on?), or
B. Don't like us because they don't agree with what we say we want to do for the country."
Message, image . . . whatever. This is precisely how marketers get confused. They forget that those types of distinctions are irrelevant to their audiences. All an audience cares about is its future; immediate and long-term (a.k.a. expectation). And they intuit that future based upon everything that they perceive. If they like what you say and they like and trust you, then they may buy into your brand. If they don't - on either front - then they won't. Period.
I say they "may" buy into your brand, because today it really isn't so much about what you say - people are tired of empty rhetoric. Nor is it about how you look - frankly, people are beginning to tire of all of the "engaging," yet meaningless imagery. Instead, it's about what you actually do to add value to people's lives. It's about what you truly care about and stand for, and how you bring it to life through passionate and compassionate real world actions.
