If the recent Canadian election has proven anything, is that messaging is CENTRAL to the success of any marketing initiative and the lack of a cohesive one can spell doom for any campaign.
The big story behind this year’s Canadian election has to be the meteoric rise of the NDP and the historic collapse of the Liberal Party. And I am convinced that this is absolutely because of the NDP out messaged and out marketed the Liberal’s at every turn.
Entering the election, the Liberals were the hands down favorite to form the opposition or even to win the election outright. So what happened?
The Liberal Party did what many businesses do: pretend that messaging and marketing ideas don’t matter, and that simply by comparing themselves to the alternative, consumers (or voters) will choose “the better product”.
The NDP however, did a masterful job in terms of marketing. So good, in fact, that they leap frogged the Liberal Party and ended up in second place: a monumental feat for a party that only had 3 weeks to run a campaign and wasn’t expected to accomplish much.
So what did the NDP do what can you learn from it?
Firstly, the NDP realized that their greatest strength was their leader Jack Layton. In political terms, the party leader is the party brand. Mr. Layton is an affable, down to earth, friendly guy and they featured him everywhere. And, understanding that his direct competitor (Michael Ignatieff) was thought of to be a bit of a stiff, stuffy and elitist (sorry Mike), they did a great job in terms of showcasing Mr. Layton as a foil: full of energy and spunk and passion.
The Liberals, however, had Michael Ignatieff in hiding it seems. They never showed him in their ads. Not showcasing him is like having a company without a logo. How can we recognize him if we can’t see him.
How do we remember him if he’s never there?
The Lesson: Your key strengths should be front and centre, and should contrast your competitor’s key weaknesses. Your messaging should reflect this.
Secondly, the NDP a superb job of breaking down their platform into bite sized chunks for people to quickly digest. Just take a look at their ad from the Metro daily a few days before the election. It wonderfully breaks down their key election promises, and –once again- features Mr. Layton front and centre. Their television ads also did a great job of highlighting their desire to end corporate tax cuts and to contrast that with their vision for a strong middle class. The messaging was just perfect.
The Liberals, on the other hand, never broke down their platform in any way. I’ve talked to many people who voted Liberal this election season and only a handful could tell me what the party was running on as a platform. Not having a list of differentials is messaging suicide.
The Lesson: break down your message into bite-sized chunks that can easily be absorbed by people and remembered.
Thirdly, the NDP didn’t skimp where it counted: advertising spend. It’s one thing to have a great ad and message but if people don’t see it what’s the point?
Now I’m a television junkie. I always have it playing in the background as I work or when I’m home. I lost count of the number of times I saw NDP ads playing. They did a great job reaching different channels and demographics.
Contrast that to the Liberals who barely had any ads on TV at all. I counted seeing just three ads in total during the entire 4 week campaign
The Lesson: don’t nickel and dime your marketing campaign. You need to push your message out to as many people as possible within your ideal demographics.
It may seem trivial, but the Liberal Party so horribly conducted their election marketing that it was a major –and I would argue central- reason for their total collapse in the election. They failed to explain to people who they were, what they stood for, what they wanted to do, and how they could change lives.
In this sense, many businesses suffer from the same marketing failures.
Take a look at your messaging and ask yourself these key questions:
“What can we do to stand out?”
“Do we have a meaningful reason to be chosen over more popular competitors?”
“How can we incorporate our unique attributes into our messaging?”
“How can we show potential clients how we might be able to change their lives?”
Great messaging is central to great marketing. The difference can be whether you go down in history as a winner or slink off the stage as the loser.
Yusuf Gad
President a5MEDIA inc
http://www.a5media.ca
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
May 09, 2011
The Politics of Messaging. Lessons From Election Branding.
If the recent Canadian election has proven anything, is that messaging is CENTRAL to the success of any marketing initiative and the lack of a cohesive one can spell doom for any campaign.
The big story behind this year’s Canadian election has to be the meteoric rise of the NDP and the historic collapse of the Liberal Party. And I am convinced that this is absolutely because of the NDP out messaged and out marketed the Liberal’s at every turn.
Entering the election, the Liberals were the hands down favorite to form the opposition or even to win the election outright. So what happened?
The Liberal Party did what many businesses do: pretend that messaging and marketing ideas don’t matter, and that simply by comparing themselves to the alternative, consumers (or voters) will choose “the better product”.
The NDP however, did a masterful job in terms of marketing. So good, in fact, that they leap frogged the Liberal Party and ended up in second place: a monumental feat for a party that only had 3 weeks to run a campaign and wasn’t expected to accomplish much.
So what did the NDP do what can you learn from it?
Firstly, the NDP realized that their greatest strength was their leader Jack Layton. In political terms, the party leader is the party brand. Mr. Layton is an affable, down to earth, friendly guy and they featured him everywhere. And, understanding that his direct competitor (Michael Ignatieff) was thought of to be a bit of a stiff, stuffy and elitist (sorry Mike), they did a great job in terms of showcasing Mr. Layton as a foil: full of energy and spunk and passion.
The Liberals, however, had Michael Ignatieff in hiding it seems. They never showed him in their ads. Not showcasing him is like having a company without a logo. How can we recognize him if we can’t see him.
How do we remember him if he’s never there?
The Lesson: Your key strengths should be front and centre, and should contrast your competitor’s key weaknesses. Your messaging should reflect this.
Secondly, the NDP a superb job of breaking down their platform into bite sized chunks for people to quickly digest. Just take a look at their ad from the Metro daily a few days before the election. It wonderfully breaks down their key election promises, and –once again- features Mr. Layton front and centre. Their television ads also did a great job of highlighting their desire to end corporate tax cuts and to contrast that with their vision for a strong middle class. The messaging was just perfect.
The Liberals, on the other hand, never broke down their platform in any way. I’ve talked to many people who voted Liberal this election season and only a handful could tell me what the party was running on as a platform. Not having a list of differentials is messaging suicide.
The Lesson: break down your message into bite-sized chunks that can easily be absorbed by people and remembered.
Thirdly, the NDP didn’t skimp where it counted: advertising spend. It’s one thing to have a great ad and message but if people don’t see it what’s the point?
Now I’m a television junkie. I always have it playing in the background as I work or when I’m home. I lost count of the number of times I saw NDP ads playing. They did a great job reaching different channels and demographics.
Contrast that to the Liberals who barely had any ads on TV at all. I counted seeing just three ads in total during the entire 4 week campaign
The Lesson: don’t nickel and dime your marketing campaign. You need to push your message out to as many people as possible within your ideal demographics.
It may seem trivial, but the Liberal Party so horribly conducted their election marketing that it was a major –and I would argue central- reason for their total collapse in the election. They failed to explain to people who they were, what they stood for, what they wanted to do, and how they could change lives.
In this sense, many businesses suffer from the same marketing failures.
Take a look at your messaging and ask yourself these key questions:
“What can we do to stand out?”
“Do we have a meaningful reason to be chosen over more popular competitors?”
“How can we incorporate our unique attributes into our messaging?”
“How can we show potential clients how we might be able to change their lives?”
Great messaging is central to great marketing. The difference can be whether you go down in history as a winner or slink off the stage as the loser.
Yusuf Gad
President a5MEDIA inc
http://www.a5media.ca
The big story behind this year’s Canadian election has to be the meteoric rise of the NDP and the historic collapse of the Liberal Party. And I am convinced that this is absolutely because of the NDP out messaged and out marketed the Liberal’s at every turn.
Entering the election, the Liberals were the hands down favorite to form the opposition or even to win the election outright. So what happened?
The Liberal Party did what many businesses do: pretend that messaging and marketing ideas don’t matter, and that simply by comparing themselves to the alternative, consumers (or voters) will choose “the better product”.
The NDP however, did a masterful job in terms of marketing. So good, in fact, that they leap frogged the Liberal Party and ended up in second place: a monumental feat for a party that only had 3 weeks to run a campaign and wasn’t expected to accomplish much.
So what did the NDP do what can you learn from it?
Firstly, the NDP realized that their greatest strength was their leader Jack Layton. In political terms, the party leader is the party brand. Mr. Layton is an affable, down to earth, friendly guy and they featured him everywhere. And, understanding that his direct competitor (Michael Ignatieff) was thought of to be a bit of a stiff, stuffy and elitist (sorry Mike), they did a great job in terms of showcasing Mr. Layton as a foil: full of energy and spunk and passion.
The Liberals, however, had Michael Ignatieff in hiding it seems. They never showed him in their ads. Not showcasing him is like having a company without a logo. How can we recognize him if we can’t see him.
How do we remember him if he’s never there?
The Lesson: Your key strengths should be front and centre, and should contrast your competitor’s key weaknesses. Your messaging should reflect this.
Secondly, the NDP a superb job of breaking down their platform into bite sized chunks for people to quickly digest. Just take a look at their ad from the Metro daily a few days before the election. It wonderfully breaks down their key election promises, and –once again- features Mr. Layton front and centre. Their television ads also did a great job of highlighting their desire to end corporate tax cuts and to contrast that with their vision for a strong middle class. The messaging was just perfect.
The Liberals, on the other hand, never broke down their platform in any way. I’ve talked to many people who voted Liberal this election season and only a handful could tell me what the party was running on as a platform. Not having a list of differentials is messaging suicide.
The Lesson: break down your message into bite-sized chunks that can easily be absorbed by people and remembered.
Thirdly, the NDP didn’t skimp where it counted: advertising spend. It’s one thing to have a great ad and message but if people don’t see it what’s the point?
Now I’m a television junkie. I always have it playing in the background as I work or when I’m home. I lost count of the number of times I saw NDP ads playing. They did a great job reaching different channels and demographics.
Contrast that to the Liberals who barely had any ads on TV at all. I counted seeing just three ads in total during the entire 4 week campaign
The Lesson: don’t nickel and dime your marketing campaign. You need to push your message out to as many people as possible within your ideal demographics.
It may seem trivial, but the Liberal Party so horribly conducted their election marketing that it was a major –and I would argue central- reason for their total collapse in the election. They failed to explain to people who they were, what they stood for, what they wanted to do, and how they could change lives.
In this sense, many businesses suffer from the same marketing failures.
Take a look at your messaging and ask yourself these key questions:
“What can we do to stand out?”
“Do we have a meaningful reason to be chosen over more popular competitors?”
“How can we incorporate our unique attributes into our messaging?”
“How can we show potential clients how we might be able to change their lives?”
Great messaging is central to great marketing. The difference can be whether you go down in history as a winner or slink off the stage as the loser.
Yusuf Gad
President a5MEDIA inc
http://www.a5media.ca
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)