Watching Sarah Palin nail her speech earlier this week did nothing to change my personal feelings about her–and her politics. But watching her deliver a strong, powerful speech that energized the Republicans in St. Paul gave me much to worry about. Palin wasn’t just playing politics, she was playing branding–or her conservative Republican handlers were. Her speech was a classic branding play.
Here is a brand–call her Brand Palin–who was tarnished right out of the gate. It was easy a week ago to dismiss Palin as unqualified. It was easy to be snarky about her hair. It was easy to criticize her mothering skills. She reminded me of a brand that many of us love to hate–Wal-Mart. We like to be snarky about that brand too: it’s too big, it’s too brash, it’s bad for the environment despite changing its lightbulbs, it’s sold guns. But we forget that there are lots of Wal-Mart moms out there. If we diss and dismiss Palin, we diss those women.
Today, Palin and McCain are headed to suburban counties outside of big metro centers–including one in my backyard, Macomb County just north of Detroit. They are reaching out to women who do see themselves in Palin as hard as that is to believe. They like her brand even if they don’t necessarily like her politics. A good number of these women likely have political leanings that would compel them to vote Democrat. But they don’t see themselves in the Obama-Biden brand. That brand is too highbrow, too classy. Obama-Biden isn’t even Target; it’s more of Whole Foods no matter Biden’s working class background. Palin makes them feel proud of who they are. They may not be the salmon hunting, pistol packing, basketball shooting women–as Cindy McCain so proudly pointed out about Palin. But they do like that she tells jokes about being a hockey mom. They are hockey moms–particularly the women of Macomb county who probably can find Red Wings branded merchandise somewhere in their house. Hockey moms are a tougher breed than the old soccer moms. Palin makes them feel good about being one.
I’m just waiting for hair salons to receive requests for the “Palin” up-do. That’s not being snarky. These women want to identify with someone and Palin gives them a brand that they can wear comfortably–all the way up from her new suits to her hair. And what of her family? She embraced them, showing off all of them to the world. Just like a good marketer facing crisis she turned her negatives into positives. She was proud of them, all of them. That was a star turn of branding. Of course, now she can’t complain when someone wants to question issues surrounding her family. She used them to her advantage. She’ll have to learn what marketers often have learned the hard way–when you embrace your faults others will nail you for them. It’s not nice, it’s not fair, but it’s reality. It’s politics.
Yes, this marketing-to-women community on eBrandMarketing is ferociously focused on Sarah Palin and what she means for: 1. women; 2. glass ceilings; 3. real messaging. Fara Warner, Delia Passi and others have written eloquently about whether the Republican VP pick was an overt pandering ploy to lure unsuspecting (uneducated or easily fooled?) women voters who were disappointed that Hillary Clinton didn’t get the P or VP nod. (Note to all: we aren’t that stupid or easily fooled, although some of us are prone to support other women as we want so much to see that very visible glass broken.)
But let’s be real. Women, since the beginning of our right to vote, have voted with our brains when the candidates were put before us. We aren’t a block to be wooed, but individuals to be connected with. That’s the major point in marketing to women. Sarah Palin knows her target audience. She says she’s both a Sam’s Club Republican and a Hockey Mom - the now famous pit bull with lipstick line - and if you are one of those, you should vote for her. The campaign also says she’s perfect to appeal to rural, small-town women and lower income suburban women. That’s who they - the Republican marketing machine - thinks she’ll appeal to, but will she? That’s the BIG question.
Which women are you marketing your brand to? Specifically. And what is in it for her? At least the Republican camp is specificish. And they need to be, because I’m sorry, but a pure blooded, left wing democrat isn’t going to go for a pure blooded right wing woman just because of her gender. We are smarter than that. But a lot of marketers just don’t believe that, not yet, in the political arena and beyond. I can’t tell you how many text messages and emails I received after the Palin announcement asking: “Now who will you vote for?”
What? While I appreciate the basic humanity in both parties - witness the bad convention hall dancing by delegates at each event - I am not part of a voting block. Do I want to see a woman in the White House some day. Absolutely. Do I hope that day is soon. Certainly. Will the fact of Sarah Palin’s nomination to the second highest office in the land be beneficial to the vision of a woman in the White House? We’ll see.
So far, I’ve seen an amazingly poised, politician, mother and wife who just jumped into my awareness. There is a lot of huff and puff surrounding her and her nomination. I’m not going to pass judgement on her because she is a woman, and my hope, although I worry about this, is that those of us who are women won’t judge her more strictly because she is one of us. I’ll tell you this much: her speech was much more powerful than John McCain’s. I like that in a woman, as a role model, whether I vote for her or not.
My problem with the advertising, the staging of the conventions, the pundits, the whole election ball of wax is that nothing seems all that real. Nothing. Even with a new face, a female face, on the scene - it feels strangely like the same ole same ole. All of us out here in the heartland - us all important swing states (I’m writing from Ohio) - want to believe. Want to feel. The “liberal elite news media” seemed to feel something from the punches thrown their way, but most of us watching felt more of the same. And days later, after both conventions, you only remember the show bloopers: Walter Reed Middle School instead of Walter Reed Army Medical Center on the screen behind McCain, for example.
Please, just talk to us. Stop swiping at each other. Tell it to us straight. How are we going to end the recession? Why will you make it better? When will the housing crisis end? Can you stop the escalating issues with other countries, keep us safe, eliminate our dependence on foreign energy from hostile nations, make our schools better, our health care stronger, our air cleaner? Sometimes, here in the heartland, we feel like if you keep huffing and puffing you’ll blow all of our houses down. And speaking for the real estate industry, those who work tirelessly helping folks try to achieve the dream of home ownership, or simply keep what they’ve bought, we’ve had enough of that.
And to either party in the future, when you pick somebody to run as your vice president - man or woman - show us that you actually believe in the person as a person. That you know her. The media should be able to pull out images of you working together in the past, standing side by side, laughing with you, or knowing you before you try to convince us the selection was heart felt. Or just tell us it was politics as usual and forget the balloon drop.
I support women. I take pleasure in seeing other women succeed. My mantra is to always look back and see what women you have pulled up.
I am delighted at the thought of a woman in the White House, one who isn’t hosting tea parties. Most voters would agree to the caveat that she be the “right woman.” I would think most would agree to the same caveat for men in the White House. Was McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin, a selling to woman strategy or an act of brilliance?
Is McCain using Sarah Palin as a ploy to attract women voters? It’s not what he claims, but a lot of voters are asking themselves if the McCain campaign is just putting a woman on the ticket the way some advertisers put a woman in their ads and then don’t fulfill the promise in the store.
Would it work? Can it work? It’s plucked a few emotional chords with me and I’m sure I’m not alone. I believe it is going to take a lot of work on our candidates to build confidence with women, and like any good salesperson building trust will ignite the consumer confidence needed to seal the deal.
I won’t drag my personal viewpoint into this discussion, but regardless of the candidates, their running mates and their relative merits, it is important to remember that any election campaign is a sales process like any other. It’s all about delivering the value promised. A savvy customer (voter) asks whether the value is there before they make their purchase decision. Delia Passi, Founder of WomenCertified® and author of Winning the Toughest Customer: The Essential Guide to Selling to Women is a regular columnist on eBrandMarketing. Want my take? Email me and visit my sites www.medelia.com, www.womencertified.com
“SEC Moves to Pull Plug on U.S. Accounting Standards” was the headline in The Wall Street Journal’s cover article, August 28, 2008. What does it mean for branding? A bonanza!
The implications for this change are huge because present U.S. Accounting Standards currently do not account for improvements made to the brand. Because this lack of support has been and continues to be the single largest obstacle between the CMO and the CFO, gazillions of misunderstandings and thousands of under-budgeted campaigns have resulted throughout the history of the advertising and marketing industry. [Read more →]
My first reaction to John McCain’s vice presidential pick was: slam dunk.
Why? Because I’ve been saying for weeks that both candidates have to win over white suburban women–and not only the women who are Hillary Clinton supporters. Sarah Palin is the kind of women other women can like–especially married women with children who are social conservatives. Obama doesn’t appeal to these women. Nor does his wife Michelle. She’s too poised while Palin is pretty and approachable. I don’t actually think Hillary appealed to these women either.
So McCain, I thought, had seen the need to reach out these women… But as the news sinks in of Palin’s overnight rise to vice presidential nominee, I find myself insulted. Insulted and disrespected and angry. [Read more →]
Susan Plagemann, VP and Publisher of Marie Claire magazine discusses the results of a study conducted with Unity Marketing on women’s attitudes, called All Access Woman, which provides powerful consumer insights into the psychology of women, her values and priorities and how her value system influences her as a consumer.
Women are less comfortable than men spending money online, and it looks like their hesitance is partially due to the current economic crunch. A new survey by online payment provider eBillme found that more women than men said they would do more shopping online if they felt that they were protected against fraud and identity theft, and fewer women felt as comfortable purchasing online as they do in person.
More than half of women said they were delaying purchases “due to uncertainty in the economy,” compared with 43 percent of men.
So what can we do to make women more comfortable online shoppers? [Read more →]
At some point or another, you will encounter human roadblocks I call culture vultures. You know who I’m talking about—the non-team players, the ones who lay down the sandbags for roadblocks, challenge change agents, and can’t think out of the box. Or, you might be one of these people (I truly hope not)! The fact is, these people touch your brand and your customers. If you’re not together internally, it will affect your image externally.
Unlike snarks or employees who just don’t fit in the culture, these folks operate at a higher level and are more difficult to see and eliminate. They will come in the form of leaders who support you to your face and sabotage you behind your back.
Perhaps your vulture takes the form of a legacy employee who knows the back story of the brand you’ve acquired. You need that legacy knowledge transfer, but all the while, you must realize what that is costing you and your culture. [Read more →]
I came across an article on Parenting.com about “what research really says about gender and babies,” by Anita Sethi, Ph.D. The author provides a summary of many different studies on how boys and girls differ in behavior early in life, demonstrating that gender stereotypes are mostly valid. Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls. [Read more →]
Delia Passi
Ellen Butler
