The number one mistake made when rebranding: failure to inform the subject

Not so long ago, the terms “branding” and “rebranding” were heard only in the PR and marketing worlds. We now hear talk of Barack Obama’s ‘brand,’ the ‘rebranding’ of Michelle Obama after her fateful fist bump, and the ongoing attempt of the Republican Party to ‘rebrand’ itself in time for the 2008 elections.

It seems, however, that in the Republican Party’s scrambling, someone forgot to inform Sen. McCain.

Back in May of this year, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article in which Gov. Schwarzenegger called for a “rebranding of the GOP.” The article reported that some of the same advisers that helped ‘The Schwarz’ in his re-election campaign were now advising McCain.

Huh.

Well, judging from recent media coverage it appears that this is either faulty information, or McCain is as good at listening to campaign advisers as Bill Clinton.

The “new and improved Republican Party” got off to an auspicious start when it was discovered that their original slogan, “the change you deserve” was already taken … by the anti-depressant Effexor XR.

That is such a “gimme,” I am not going to insult your intelligence by going there.

So the Republican Party wants Americans to believe they are the party of “change.” They see Obama’s success with “change we can believe in,” and they want a piece of the action. They know they can’t win with the old. (Note: This was not a stab at McCain.)

President Bush is a hindrance. He cannot show his face within a 100-mile radius of any Republican candidate’s district, for he has now successfully earned himself the lowest approval rating of any president in “modern American history.” … I wonder what the keepsake for that award looks like.

Last week, Politico columnist Glenn Hurowitz penned a column titled, “Why is McCain joining the Bush party?” Says Hurowitz:

The weird thing about this newly obedient McCain, however, is that he’s drawing close to the Bush establishment at the very moment when it and its policies are widely blamed for America’s deepening malaise. At a time when the rest of the country is experiencing a Bush hangover, McCain is just popping the champagne. He’s gone from being a maverick who defies the establishment to a kind of gonzo maverick who defies the people — and that’s a very dangerous thing for a presidential candidate.

It seems McCain is not a maverick, he’s simply contrary. He enjoys rebelling against “authority,” no matter whether it’s in his best interest.

The Straight Talk Express is attempting to talk America straight into another four years of Bush by supporting, so far, the administration’s policies on the economy, energy and the war in Iraq.

McCain is camapigning in favor of making Bush’s tax breaks for the wealthy permanent.

Oil barons McCain once shunned are now giving him a round of applause for backing their two favorite “fuel efficiency” policies: a gas tax holiday and an offshore drilling free-for-all.

And don’t count on McCain to support legislation favoring clean energy technologies. During a vote to “move taxpayer money from oil subsidies to the clean energy technologies that could drastically bring down fuel costs” McCain actually refused to get off the plane at Dulles. And the legislation failed … by one vote.

Are you picturing a temper tantrum on Air Force One, too?

Who wasn’t shocked when McCain, the former POW, voted with the Bush administration in February to allow waterboarding as an interrogation tactic?

In May of this year McCain was predicting that by the year 2013, we would have “won” the war in Iraq and the majority of our troops would be home. However, in a June 11, 2008, interview, Matt Lauer asked McCain whether he had an estimate of when our troops would start returning home. Sen. McCain answered: “No, but that’s not too important. What’s important is the casualties in Iraq.”

Later that day, McCain supporters answered the obvious outcry with: “[McCain] was referring to an estimate of when troops could come home and that his main goal is eliminating U.S. deaths in the war that has lasted more than five years.”

Is it just me, or is there a serious failure in logic in that statement? If his main goal is eliminating U.S. deaths, how exactly would leaving our troops in Iraq equate with fewer casualties?

It seems like McCain is trying to play both sides of the fence. And doing a terrible job of it.

Were I advising Republican leadership on their rebranding, I would first advise them to create a little distance with McCain. As he’s playing things now, the Senator is not going to help their cause.

They need to suck it up and put their moderate Republicans out front. They need to work with Democrats in Congress to get some real legislation passed so they can point to it as both proof of their commitment to constituents and as their ability to work in bipartisan fashion.

The American people are facing a laundry list of issues. Issues that affect every single citizen across the board. So yes, we are looking for change. Not the kind of change that’s convenient in the moment, but the kind of change that will put people to work; create a more fair and equal distribution of wealth; advance clean energy technologies; get our troops out of Iraq, and provide every man, woman and child in America with quality health care.

The only “brand” of consequence in this year’s election is change. And that brand must be, to borrow the phrase, “change we can believe in.”

~ by Jenny on June 29, 2008.