Unless you have absolute clarity of what your brand stands for, everything else is irrelevant. – Mark Baynes
“It’s the economy, stupid.“ This bit of down-home political wisdom was at the heart of Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign. James Carville had coined it as a campaign strategist of Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign against sitting president George H. W. Bush. It brought focus to Clinton’s brand and campaign messaging. He was the guy who was going to fix the economy that voters believed needed fixing. He chose the most important thing to citizens and paraded himself as the man who could make a difference. Of course, he also went further to point out that it was the Republicans that had made the mess that he would clean up.
Donald Trump has not only positioned himself as the “disrupter of the status quo”, he has gone a step further to give voters a handle for HRC as “Crooked Hillary.” He has an unambiguous positioning and tons of flair to express it.
Your positioning must be relevant, credible, memorable and competitive.
I can’t understand how Hillary’s strategists have not mined the data on what Americans want and articulated a clear single-minded position in a memorable way.
- 17% of Americans mention the economy as top problem*
- A net of 39% name an economic issue as most important*
*Source: GALLUP
If it’s no longer “the economy, stupid,” then what is it? Maybe it’s the culture. There is, after all, apparently deep Republican unease about America’s transformation into a nation that is less white and less Christian. A recent Pew Research analysis found GOP voter attitudes about Trump are “strongly associated” with their views on “immigration, Islam, and racial diversity.” And when looking at Trump’s broader base of Republican support, conservative thinker Avik Roy reluctantly concluded “the gravitational center of the Republican Party is white nationalism,”
Whatever she chooses to own, “I’m with Hillary” must surely only be an appetizer to the main course strategic stance that is to come. Her husband says she’s a Game Changer. The thing is The Donald already owns that. No matter how much half of America hates Trump, if the Dems campaign does not bring absolute clarity to what their candidate stands for, and fast, game over.
