The Marketing Doctor Says:
John McCain Must Promote His “UnRepublican” Brand
(If he wants to counter Obama’s “UnPolitician” Brand)

Folks, get ready for the battle of the “Un-‘s”!!!

Whenever either of my parents were asked whether they were Democrat or Republican, they’d answer: I vote for the candidate not the party.  This could never be a better answer than now with it looking like McCain versus Obama in the general election this November!

Today’s poll shows that McCain trails Obama in the general election and over the weekend I heard a lot of talk about Brand McCain on the Sunday talk shows!

Again, the Marketing Doctor does not practice political punditry but with so much reckless branding advice floating around (Huckabee said something like “people buy the cereal not the brand” and I’m still scratching my head about that one!) – here’s my take from a purely branding and marketing perspective!!!
Last week I wrote that Obama shouldn’t take Hillary on board as VP because he is the “Unpolitician” and she is the “Uber”politician (see the post here and my radio interview here) and the conflicting brands will spell confusion for the voters!

Well, McCain has a brand problem too!  It’s the problem of running as a Republican when Brand Republican is suffering from all-time low approval!

Lucky for him he is the “UnRepublican!”  He’s never really been comfortable in the party of the elephant (or its most recent image) and if he begins to market this part of his brand then the strength of his “UnRepublican” brand (i.e., his outsider positions on lobbyists, big government subsidies and his generally maverick reputation) will emerge more strongly and serve as a hedge against Obama’s own “UnPolitician” outsider brand!

From now on, McCain must stress that he is the “UnRepublican” –someone whose brand in image, word and deed are different from the perceived characteristics of Brand Republican!    And, remember, this is especially important since the target market for the general election are independents, conservative Democrats and, of course, registered Republicans!

I don’t know how McCain’s going to handle the issue of distancing Brand McCain from Brand Republican if he’s taking the party’s dollars (of course, the same challenge confronts Obama with his own party) … But good brand management is about realism –hard and clear-sighted thinking about what sets one brand apart from another— and maybe we’ll see politics (isn’t politics supposed to be the art of the possible?) and branding meet on this one –after all, Brand McCain might not be Brand Republican but Brand Republican doesn’t have many other options at this point!

And, remember, it’s always easier when you keep branding in mind!