{"id":998,"date":"2020-10-23T14:01:15","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T18:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/?p=998"},"modified":"2020-10-23T14:01:17","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T18:01:17","slug":"branding-and-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/?p=998","title":{"rendered":"BRANDING AND POLITICS!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KEN BANKS\u2019 BLOG OCTOBER 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"KEN BANKS BLOG  10-20\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1IVqV_XFOoM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>PRESS PLAY&gt;&gt;TO VIEW THIS MONTH\u2019S WELCOME VIDEO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BRANDING AND POLITICS!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Election-2020-logo-300x187.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Election-2020-logo-300x187.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Election-2020-logo-1024x640.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Election-2020-logo-768x480.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Election-2020-logo-400x250.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Election-2020-logo-1080x675.jpeg 1080w, https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Election-2020-logo.jpeg 1140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As election day draws closer, I am once again amazed at the amount of political advertising that has flooded the airways, the mailboxes, the press, social media, billboards and anything else you can imagine to get the candidates\u2019 name out in front of the electorate.\u00a0 The more I see, the more convinced I am that the political campaign strategists never studied marketing or branding.\u00a0 The strategy seems to be spend as much as you can, copy whatever the competition is doing or what has been done for the past several elections, and (worst of all) attack you opponent as aggressively and as cold-heartedly as possible.\u00a0 The recent debates were a prime example of immature, derisive attacks (although the second presidential discussion (not really a debate by definition) was significantly more civil than debate NUMBER 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No question that there is some long running competition between major brands throughout our capitalistic marketplace.&nbsp; Branding requires finding an advantage for your product or service over you like competitor(s).&nbsp; However, a successful brand strategy is based on communicating your advantage to those customers who would be moved to purchase once they are convinced that your advantage resonates with their individual needs or desires.&nbsp; Can you imagine if Ford or Chevrolet used their multi-million-dollar marketing campaigns to yell and scream and many times misrepresent the facts (aka Lie) to discredit the other brand.&nbsp; Or, if Walmart and Amazon only spoke of the disadvantages of delivery or of brick and mortar shopping, When I was with P&amp;G\u2019s Folger\u2019s Coffee brand, the message was always built around the aromatic and tasteful advantages of their highland grown beans.&nbsp; They did not say Maxwell House tasted like sludge or that Chock-full o\u2019 nuts was not made out nuts and were lying about their brand.&nbsp; As a customer, I like the ability to choose what I buy and where I buy it.&nbsp; McDonald\u2019s has always out performed Burger King when it comes to their store experience, but they have always stressed their quality of their people and the taste of their food rather that attack the management of BK which seems to change every year and leaves an inconsistent message in their branding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"87\" class=\"wp-image-245\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/smalllogo-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/smalllogo-3.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/smalllogo-3-300x173.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>Daniel Burrus, in his webcast \u201cStrategic Deep Dive\u201d recently highlighted the collaboration among major companies (not necessarily competitors, but still searching for more of the customer\u2019s shopping dollars) in the attempt to deal with COVID 19.\u00a0 Ford, GE and 3M while marketing their own safety measures, collaborated to provide ventilators, respirators, and face shield to help health care workers and first responders in dealing with the pandemic.\u00a0 It was the right thing to do and it\u2019s the kind of cooperation that would enable our government to provide safer and quicker solutions to a number of issues facing the population of the US. The improvement in automobile efficiency has long been a competitive advantage, but he cooperation of automakers to provide better, more fuel-efficient vehicles as well as the many safety features now standard in even the basic models.\u00a0 Gaining a competitive advantage drives product improvement and more creative marketing messages while not alienating the other brands or their loyal customers.\u00a0 When Volkswagen was caught providing false emissions and mileage results to meet government standards, the other auto companies didn\u2019t start calling them out and question the management\u2019s ethics (even though it would have been warranted}.\u00a0 Instead, the featured their own results and provided unbiased studies and reports that built the respect of their customers and the general public as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have long been a proponent of having more than only two political parties whose main goal in their marketing is to find fault with anyone in the opposing party or who was appointed to a government service position by the competitive party elected officials.\u00a0 This is not a Red or Blue constituency.\u00a0 It\u2019s not black or white. Not Christian or Jew. Native or immigrant.\u00a0 We need to have more choices and more factual reporting of the accomplishments of all the candidates.\u00a0 Many marketing experts have been quoted as saying that \u201cMarketing isn\u2019t just the single-most important business function. It\u2019s the only thing.\u201d\u00a0 It amazes me how many comments are made with the utmost certainty by one candidate versus the other.\u00a0 Immediately, the other candidate refutes the comment saying emphatically \u201cThat\u2019s not true.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In this situation, one or the other is not telling the truth and it\u2019s amazing how many findings by independent fact-checkers confirm the false statements by one candidate or the other and for all offices.\u00a0 It\u2019s time we told the truth all the time and built our messages on one\u2019s qualifications rather that the other\u2019s perceived shortcomings.\u00a0 I hope it happens soon.\u00a0 Be sure to vote on November 3<sup>rd<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"36\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/smallLogo-copy.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-248\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KEN BANKS\u2019 BLOG OCTOBER 2020 PRESS PLAY&gt;&gt;TO VIEW THIS MONTH\u2019S WELCOME VIDEO BRANDING AND POLITICS! As election day draws closer, I am once again amazed at the amount of political advertising that has flooded the airways, the mailboxes, the press, social media, billboards and anything else you can imagine to get the candidates\u2019 name out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1000,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions\/1000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}