BRANDING AMERICA--THAT'S MY VOTE

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GOD BLESS AMERICA—THE BRAND!

Recently, I attended a conference in New York where Steve Forbes gave one of the keynote presentations. As a publisher, journalist and former presidential candidate, Steve was certainly qualified to give a timely address to over 3000 professional speakers and associates.

I won’t go into the details of his presentation here, but it became very obvious to me that as a country and as a government, the US has done a poor job of branding itself both within our borders and internationally. Some of the facts that Forbes shared about the economy and some of the simplistic ideas that he shared (like a flat tax) seemed so important and so relevant to the problems we are facing in our country (and the world), it’s amazing that I haven’t heard or seen any reference to these key issues from either of our candidates as we get closer to the November elections. In fact, it seems that if you were to ask a typical citizen about what the “brand” (i.e. what differentiates him from the others) of our current candidates, you’d expect to hear that one is “the candidate who happens to be African American” or the other is “the candidate who happens to have been a prisoner of war in Vietnam”. Now, both of these descriptors are important factors but does either of them qualify the person to be President of this country? Not if the brand is defined as the qualities and experience that are the basis for an enduring relationship with your customer (or in this case, the voter.)

So, the analogies of comparing the brand within a company and the brand of our government and country have many similarities. It would do our candidates well to learn a lesson from successful businesses who have dedicated and enthusiastic employees and loyal and supportive customers because they have done a better job of branding than their competitors. First, the President must be the brand champion—leading the country and setting an example of the strong and consistent leadership that brings more consensus within our legislature and develops a positive morale among the people. Brand building is one of the most important forms of leadership in a company and it certainly holds true in leading our nation.

Brand America needs to be consistent with the people and it needs to be communicated to them frequently and honestly. Only by developing trust can our leaders maintain loyalty and support for their programs and policies. Brand America also has to be strong and consistent with our enemies. Just as the strongest brands gain market share from their competition, our country needs to be positioned as a positive alternative to those nations and groups who don’t agree with our policies and way of life. Like a branded product, the way to maintain market share and a preferred position is emphasize our strengths and not try to chase the competition but rather set the example in order to be the preferred choice.

Brand America must also be trusted and respected by our friends and allies. Just as strong brands lead their categories and industries not only among their customers, they also work with their “competitors’ the industry to improve standards and quality through trade organizations and mutual cooperation while maintaining their own identity in the marketplace.

It sounds simplistic, but the principles of branding surely would be a lot more effective than the partisan name calling and accusations that seem to be the only marketing methods that today’s candidates seem to know for their millions of advertising dollars.
Why not build a following by stressing the positives of the candidate and his policies?
Why not build a campaign based on the facts rather than innuendo?
Why not seek changes for the weakness and build our strength from the policy of change—rather than simply promise change for change sake? In other words, why not build—or rebuild—the branding of our country to a well-respected society that fosters positive relationships here and abroad?

Just as it is imperative for an organization to live up to the brand every day in everything for which they are responsible, it is time to set the goal of building the brand of America with its people through strong communication, honest, effective leadership, and consistent, forward-thinking policies.

People want brands they can trust more than ever today. Should we expect anything less from our nation’s leadership?



WHAT’S IN A NAME??
After 10 years of suffering with the worst team in the major leagues, we baseball fans in the Tampa Bay area are enjoying the biggest turnaround in baseball history as the Rays close in on an American East Division Title this week. When the new owners took over a couple years ago they promised a new look and attitude—A NEW BRAND—that started by changing the name from the
Devil Rays (I never even heard of a devil ray around the waters here.) to simply The Rays. Just proof again that if you get the evil connotations out of your brand, you are more likely to be successful. GO RAYS.