Political strategists, branding gurus and image consultants could learn a lot from the modern corporate successes in branding. In each political season we see positioning by the front-runners to get your vote. Capitalizing on the most popular brands to find synergy is a good strategy. Another is to find novel ways to propel omni-presence of your candidate. Very smart marketing and branding is seen every day in the market place, but are we learning anything? Many top American business schools fail to understand the sysnergy of branding. If you read through the Thesis Projects and Dissertations on the subject one might shake their heads and say that they are lacking. Many academics and industry branding professionals say that the HBR Harvard Business Review has done a poor job of understanding these things and have irrelevant articles which would not fly in the real world. The doers are doing it and the academia is talking about something they do not even understand. Political Strategists need to be well versed in the world of branding and read almost every book on branding. They should talk with those in the Toy Business who really do understand how synergies work or which brands will work good together and why. NASCAR is so popular that the Republican National Committee ought to sponsor a car and driver. Just like they should be selling Die Cast Toys of Air Force One, the Presidential Tour Bus, Presidential Limo, Secret Service SUVs, Farm animals on the Ranch and action figures of the main players. Including Bush (Jeb, GW, Dad and Barbara) Having studied this already we believe it is worthy of further brand name extension and also good for America. When marketing a name, person, company or cause you need to filter your message through all channels. Look at the positive advantage of Arnold, his dolls for Terminator, etc also are sold out everywhere http://www.figuremania.com.au/ even those 3.5 Billion Chinese cannot keep them on the shelves. Remember 20-30 years ago the IKE Dolls Roosevelt Dolls, Truman Dolls, I even have a Nixon Doll still. America is about families and therefore all worldly events in sports, business, politics or whatever should be represented in such a way to touch the minds and souls of all peoples, rich and poor, young and old, black or white. See my point? So, Arnold Dolls and Terminator Dolls are not the only toys out of stock. It is a political indicator for who wins Presidential Races that the Halloween costumes sold to kids with the most masks sold is the candidate who wins. These known political facts should be a sign of what works and why. Political strategists should not only learn about branding in Corporate America and Hollywood, they should take full advantage of all distribution channels to stay in the minds of their voters and if that means the kids rooms and living rooms. Think about it. |
