Senator Barack Obama’s message of change catapulted him to the top of the Democratic ticket. With a failing economy, the ongoing war in Iraq, and terrorism still on the minds of Americans, “Change” seemed like a viable slogan to many Americans, at least Democrats. On the flip side was Senator John McCain’s straight talk about issues, without resorting to any central message. If there was a message, it was that experience is what the nation needs now, particularly in facing up to the international scourge of terrorism and in bringing home the troops from Iraq with honor.
While Obama was said to have a near double-digit lead nearly a month ago, most polls now say that the race is a dead heat with expected bounces coming out of each party’s upcoming convention. In trying to explain why Obama’s numbers declined, pollsters and political pundits gave a marketing answer: his message of change was running stale. Worse, they said, is if he keeps using the slogan all the way to the November election. Not everyone shared that opinion as several marketing publications counseled that he should stick to the message that got him here in the first place.
There is also considerable debate whether a candidate absolutely needs a memorable slogan to succeed. Perhaps the non-slogan has been working better for McCain since he can project himself as being the candidate of substance vs. the slogan of Obama. Others are not so sure, arguing that even a slogan that included the word experience would be better than no slogan.
Marketers have long suggested that messages can become stale and even boring to consumers, which is why even some of America’s corporate icons have been coming up with new slogans on a fairly regular basis. Every company wants to appear as dynamic and fresh and thus goes to great lengths not to appear to be stale and outdated.
If you are a businessman, this all might sound very confusing. On the one hand you have always been taught that a good slogan or theme can be an important asset to a company. On the other hand, you hear all this talk about slogans growing stale and perhaps not very productive in terms of sales and profits.
Many older readers will surely remember the slogan of General Electric: “We Bring Good Things to Light.” It seems so perfectly suited for the company that you’d never believe that the company would ever change the slogan, and certainly not to the current slogan of “Imagination at Work.” But it seems that the GE marketers were concerned about getting painted as an older company with a tired slogan, which is why they opted for the change.
Corporate America invests a great deal into slogans. Yet, a 2004 survey by Emergency, a marketing consulting firm, showed that only 1% of 500 people surveyed were able to match familiar brands with their slogans. But there were some slogans that did better than others, such as “You’re in Good Hands with All-State” that 87% of those surveyed were able to match. If you are an All-State marketer you just don’t tamper with that kind of success.
It may appear that the success of the slogan should dictate its longevity. But as we well know by now, some of the most successful slogans were retired long before they became obsolete. The reason: the company did not want to wait till it became a tired slogan.
There is a school of thought that urges periodic change to slogans. The reasoning is that the change of slogans is like an event that can help generate excitement. Frequently, companies roll out a new slogan with the same fanfare as they might a new line of products. It gives the company the opportunity to deliver its message in a controlled but upbeat manner. Its shelf life can be long, giving a company a good run before moving on to the next round of slogan change.
So if you are Obama, how do you handle the slogan of change which he used so cleverly to raise money? Obama raised $51 million in the month of July alone, a large part of it attributed to his message of change. Yet, you receive the analysis of professionals that people may be tiring of your message while your opponent does not even have to worry about a slogan altogether. The bet is that Obama will refine his message somewhat, at least through his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Slogans are a good vehicle for delivering a message about the culture of a company and often its mission. They can be an enormous boost to branding, but may not be for everyone. If the message can not be succinct and convey an immediate impression, it may have the effect of confusing the customer, which is the last thing that marketers would suggest.
In evaluating a slogan, it may be wise to take the Obama test. Is the slogan propelling the company to the next level or is it tired and boring? Does the slogan send the right message about the philosophy of the company or does it mean absolutely nothing? In the next few weeks, we will learn more about Senator Obama but we may also learn a lot more about slogans and messages.
Out of the Box is a collection of strategic marketing articles that Lubicom has published on various topics, trends and ideas in the marketing world. The articles have been published in the Hamodia weekly newspaper circulated on three continents to a readership of well over 100,000.
The name, "Out of the Box" is a term used frequently in business nowadays to describe creative thinking that is not the norm. It is meant to help a business pull away from the pack or separate oneself from the competition. It is to some extent fraught with risk, simply because it is not the run of the mill thinking, but it is at the same time the key to reaching the next opportunity.