Obama’s BRAND Problem

Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed more and more political pundits and television personalities throwing around the term “Brand” when discussing the political parties and personalities.

The brand issue hit again today with the release of the new Zogby Poll showing the rapid reversal of Obama’s poll numbers.

These people generally seem to have no clue what the hell a “Brand” is. They almost universally confuse the term with reputation.

Once again, I will give a brief on what is a brand and how the brand is developed and energized.

A fully developed brand has five components:

Functions -What function does this service or product do, its core purpose. For a restaurant this would be to provide a place to eat.

Benefits -What the consumers can expect to gain from this product or service. For a restaurant this might be feeling gratified by a great steak or very healthy meal.

Associations -What links to the brand will be appealing to consumers. For a restaurant this might be A-list guests, famous chef, perfect location.

Personality -What personality does the brand reflect. For a restaurant this could include fun, exclusive, elegant, smart or romantic.

Promise –Consumer expectations or aspirations. For a restaurant this might include: a celebration, royal treatment, confirmation of status.

These components are the critical part of branding that puts the product into the consumer’s hand.

But that is just the first critical event; the next is the customer’s actual experience with the product.

I think that what has led to Obama’s downturn in polling is simply a predicted result of package versus experience.

The closer people have looked at Obama, the less attractive he seems. A look at the late primaries after the “clinging to guns and God” flap shows him being thoroughly trounced by Clinton down the stretch. Unfortunately for her, the stretch wasn’t far enough and so Obama limped into the nomination (maybe).

Democrats can’t blame the Obama campaign marketers for his troubles. The pre-position branding of Obama was masterful; it’s the actual product that it is the problem.

Category: Politics