In honor of Election Day next Tuesday, it is worth pointing out that while Democrats and Republicans increasingly find it difficult to be civil to each other, there actually is some overlap in the brands that they value.
Advertising Age reports that a survey by YouGov's BrandIndex indicates that Republicans’ top ten brands are, in order, Fox News, the History Channel, Craftsman, the Discovery Channel, Johnson & Johnson, UPS, Fox, FedEx, Lowe’s and Cheerios.
Democrats have a different set of priorities, but there are actually seven GOP-favored brands that make their list, which goes, in order, like this: Google, Sony, the Discovery Channel, UPS, Craftsman, Johnson & Johnson, Cheerios, the History Channel, FedEx and Amazon.
The suggestion is that at least from a branding perspective, the two political sides may actually have more in common that many would think. Perhaps they should be bonding while dropping off a package at FedEx or UPS, or while shopping for a Craftsman tool, or while discussing the previous night’s documentary on the History Channel.
(It is interesting that MSNBC does not seem to generate the same fervor among Democrats as Fox News does among Republicans; perhaps this is the much-discussed “enthusiasm gap” that pundits have spent so much time discussing on TV.)
But this also suggests a kind of game that marketers should play, and encourage their staffs to play, having nothing to do with political persuasions. If you were asked to identify the ten most important brands in your life, the ones that are the most relevant to your life and of the highest quality, which ones would they be? More importantly, why are they important? And what does that tell you about the care and feeding of your own brand?
The results of such a self-inflicted test might indeed be eye-opening ... and about more than just your politics.
- Kevin Coupe
Advertising Age reports that a survey by YouGov's BrandIndex indicates that Republicans’ top ten brands are, in order, Fox News, the History Channel, Craftsman, the Discovery Channel, Johnson & Johnson, UPS, Fox, FedEx, Lowe’s and Cheerios.
Democrats have a different set of priorities, but there are actually seven GOP-favored brands that make their list, which goes, in order, like this: Google, Sony, the Discovery Channel, UPS, Craftsman, Johnson & Johnson, Cheerios, the History Channel, FedEx and Amazon.
The suggestion is that at least from a branding perspective, the two political sides may actually have more in common that many would think. Perhaps they should be bonding while dropping off a package at FedEx or UPS, or while shopping for a Craftsman tool, or while discussing the previous night’s documentary on the History Channel.
(It is interesting that MSNBC does not seem to generate the same fervor among Democrats as Fox News does among Republicans; perhaps this is the much-discussed “enthusiasm gap” that pundits have spent so much time discussing on TV.)
But this also suggests a kind of game that marketers should play, and encourage their staffs to play, having nothing to do with political persuasions. If you were asked to identify the ten most important brands in your life, the ones that are the most relevant to your life and of the highest quality, which ones would they be? More importantly, why are they important? And what does that tell you about the care and feeding of your own brand?
The results of such a self-inflicted test might indeed be eye-opening ... and about more than just your politics.
- Kevin Coupe
- KC's View:
