Election 2012: Battle of the Brands

I was asked to elaborate on a brief point I made in my initial post about the the current US election being a competition between brands. Here goes.

Surely this imagery is familiar to you. These are our candidates' logos--the first giveaway that we are looking at two brands. They also both have a slogan. This time around our incumbent has chosen "Forward," and Romney uses, "Believe in America." Upon reading those, you probably felt something right? Both appeal to your emotions, specifically to your patriotism. More importantly these slogans are the essence of each candidate, and a segue into the core of what defines all brands: their promise.

Keeping consistent with his motivational 2008 slogan "Yes We Can," Obama promotes moving forward this election--moving the country forward, the economy forward, ... essentially he promises progress. Romney, being the newcomer in the race has a somewhat fresh take with "Believe in America." I will say this isn't quite as clever or relative to his trickle down economics or status on social issues, but this slogan does appeal to the Republican audience.

After the brand establishment, we of course have advertisements. And of course both of these branded people have ads. I argue that their internet and TV spots are accompanied by their national tour of speeches, endorsements, annoying emails and of course the party conventions in the advertisement category. All of these contribute to their ploys to win over their "fellow Americans."

And of course their selling of themselves is for our (the consumers') benefits. We obviously want the best, most apt candidate to govern our country. Ultimately, we are choosing between two products--two brands.

What does a brand mean? You will see that I can't say enough, and I can't say it well.

In the last three hundred or so years, the idea and practices of brands and branding have evolved to be much more sophisticated and multi-purposeful. Brands have transformed from being purely functional to being sort of a cultural phenomenon. In the beginning of brand usage, advertising was primarily used as propaganda and to sell product. Of course, those are still the primary functions of ads and branding today, but ads and branding have also become an art-- a form of expression and individuality. The evolution of products to brands has also transferred the importance from the brand and product itself to the consumer and his/her relation to the brand, more so even that the consumer's relation to the product.

In this transition, brands and advertisement also became the essence of competition. In a culture of excess, our grocery stores are filled with not just one kind of every essential or desired product. When we shop for food, we are faced with the choice of which of several brands of bread, chicken, cookies, fruit, and even water we should buy. How do you make your decision? Label? Their association with another popular brand? Price? Cooperate social responsibility? What ever the answer is, it is part of the promise the brand has made to the consumer; part of the impression they have made on you--the consumer.

In short, brands have become things that govern our lives. They help you make decisions. More than that, we now use brands to tell the world who we are. What jeans should I wear that exude my essence of self to the rest of the world? What watch should I purchase--does it say worldly entrepreneur, or trendy student? It's really quite narcissistic, but we unconsciously live by these governances anyway. How else do we give off that vital first impression?

Honestly, I'm not sure that I have made a very coherent point here. And I have only touched on a very small portion of what brands do for us, and to us. What they mean. I will close this entry with reiterating that brands affect people, and the world. I mean, we are going through another election, and choosing between two brands to lead our country. Because brands do contribute to major decision making in the world, it has also become very important for brands to offer up some sort of social responsibility. Again, I'm at kind of a loss for something else to add without going on with unorganized thoughts forever. Hope this is on the right track...