Learning From Political Marketing and Vice Versa – Using Oppositioning and FUD to Drive Preference

This article is part of a series that identifies direct observation and analysis from political marketing and its application to customer marketing and vice versa.

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Please note that neither this nor any other article in this series attempts to make a political statement. I'm neither advancing nor supporting any candidate or political party in these articles. Instead, this is about marketing—pure and simple—and what we can learn from each other.

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The DNC (Democratic National Convention) culminated in Chicago last week. On Day 1 alone, presenters brought up former President Donald J. Trump’s name 147 times.

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That’s 5 times more than presenters spoke about the economy.

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18 more times than any mentions of the border situation.

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Presenters declared Trump's name 4 times more than mentions of crime.

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29 times more mentions than prices.

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And 49 times more mentions of Trump than for inflation.

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Mentions for Donald Trump were four-fold higher than combined mentions of the economy, prices, and inflation together,

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Curiously, speakers mentioned him 3 times more than the economy, border, crime prices, and inflation combined.

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Did all these presenters come to praise the former president at the DNC? No, they came to bury him!

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They engaged in oppositioning him.

However, please note that this is not a one-sided practice. Speakers at the RNC (Republican National Convention) engaged in the same practice.

They repeatedly attacked the Biden administration—President Joe Biden and presidential candidate Kamal Harris.

Politicians are noted for oppositioning their opponents. But then, marketers and, in particular, sales personnel do the same to their brand's competitors. They let slip negatives about their competitors to target customers.

What and Why Oppositioning

While positioning addresses what our political party, candidate, or brand stands for, oppositioning is about identifying the weaknesses of your competitor(s) to create negative perceptions of them.

In other words, oppositioning is about positioning your competitors in an unflattering light to get target customers to appreciate your offering better and choose it.

Those products that do not have a brand positioning strategy or reflect it in everything they do are most susceptible to oppositioning. It invites competitors to position our brand for us and vice versa.

Oppositioning Promotes FUD

Politicians thrive on oppositioning their competitors and creating FUD in the minds of target voters. FUD is the acronym for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

In the case of an incumbent (or a brand attempting to maintain its market share lead or thwart a new or emerging competitor), it could be about the fear of the unknown. It's either we don't know what they will do when they get in office (or how they will perform) because we have yet to be informed or we are made to distrust their promises.

Years ago, my grandmother and I disagreed on an incumbent up for re-election. She was for the incumbent, and I was against him. Her reasoning? Better the devil you know than the one you don't.

On the other hand, those pushing for a switch from one candidate to their candidate will point out real, perceived, and, in the case of politics, even fabricated negatives, stoking Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt regarding the incumbent’s impact on voters’ (or customers’) lives and experiences.

How to Opposition Successfully

Oppositioning and FUD, while successful practices, have their shortcomings. Whereas they galvanize the oppositioner’s constituents, they could turn off the competitor's base or users.

If the oppositioner demeans the competitors' base in any way (real or perceived), they could lose them. Recall former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 calling those voters for Trump the "deplorables."

When oppositioning, we don't want to demean those who favor the opposition—political candidate or brand. This is where the “tip-of-the-hat” approach makes sense.

The tip-of-the-hat approach to oppositioning and FUD acknowledges something positive about the competitor that followers may realize. However, the oppositioner identifies a weakness relative to that candidate or brand that can significantly reduce its attractiveness and drives preference for the oppositioner.

It goes something like this: “Oh yes, I use Tylenol for minor aches and pains, BUT when it comes to headaches, I use Excedrin. I’ve found that Excedrin works better for headaches than Tylenol.”

First comes the acknowledgment, then comes the BIG but(t) to block choosing the competitor.?

(Acknowledgement of a positive) BUT (Real or Perceived Negatives of the Competitor)

The tip-of-the-hat approach is non-threatening to those who have chosen or considered the competitor. It gets those prospective customers to lower their guard so oppositioning and FUD can win them over to the oppositioner’s candidate or brand.

Tonality is also crucial to winning votes and customers—your and your competitor's customers. It is better to lower the pitch to avoid coming off as strident or a bully; otherwise, it could result in a rebound for the competitor.

Oppositioning is courtship, not heavy selling. Machiavelli would approve of oppositioning with the tip of the hat.

One final note: regardless of whether you choose to use oppositioning and FUD, thinking through the fundamental logic and basis for doing it is essential. I always ask clients who their primary competitors are and how they might opposition them.

Why?

It helps them identify their competitive advantage versus their competitor for positioning and messaging.

THINK ABOUT IT

• How might/do your competitors opposition your brand? What is the best response for their oppositioning?
• How might you opposition them? What strengths or advantages does that lead others to recognize for your brand?

MAKING YOUR MARKETING MATTER (EVEN) MORE

1. Check with sales personnel about how your competitors are oppositioning your brand.
2. Design a response to their oppositioning. However, keep control of the dialogue about your brand's virtues.
3. How might you opposition your competitors? If you choose to opposition them in the marketplace, use the tip-of-the-hat approach. And watch your tone!
4. Identify those strengths your oppositioning of the competition reveals about your brand.
5. Build a better brand. Reflect your strengths and advantages in your Competitive Brand Positioning Strategy Statement.
6. If you don’t have an official Competitive Brand Positioning Strategy Statement, create one and use it!

Interested in reading my follow-up articles on this subject and all matters marketing? Please follow me on LinkedIn https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/richarddczerniawski/ , where I share my perspectives from more than 50-years of successful worldwide “brand” marketing experience across many business sectors.

To learn more about creating a winning brand positioning strategy, read COMPETITIVE POSITIONING - Best Practices for Creating Brand Loyalty, by yours truly and Mike Maloney, and my latest book, AVOIDING CRITICAL MARKETING ERRORS – How to Go from Dumb to Smart Marketing, where I brand positioning in greater detail. Both are available on AMAZON.

Peace and best wishes in making your marketing matter (even) more,

Richard D. Czerniawski