What Marketers and Business Leaders Can Learn from Winning Campaign Slogans

Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat doesn’t matter; here’s what all of us need to understand about marketing messages and rally cries

On December 12, 2019 Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party of the U.K. won their election with an overwhelming majority. Many expected his win but were stunned by the number of seats won -- an 80-seat majority, the most since 1987. Reflecting on this landslide victory, many credit three words in securing the win for Boris Johnson’s party: Get Brexit Done.

This oversimplification of what a candidate and their party stands wasn’t a novel idea in 2019. “Take Back Control” was the slogan of the victorious initiative to leave the European Union during the 2016 Brexit referendum. In 2019, the “Get Brexit Done” slogan stood in stark contrast to the opposing Labour party’s verbose, confusing, and unclear messaging.

Many cite the Labour party’s murky position as one they struggled to get behind. Its complexity created a vacuum of passion within their typical party’s base.

Of course, straight forward campaign slogans are something we’re familiar with here in the United States as well. Donald J. Trump won the 2016 election with the infamous “Make America Great Again” slogan and its further distilled acronym MAGA.

The simplicity of those four words, with the word “Again” being the most powerful, meaningful and controversial among them, connect a campaign’s complex initiatives to the simple message of going back to a time when things were better in the minds of this candidate’s supporters.

Whether you’re a company or a single personal brand, stating what you stand for in simple terms is critical. And it’s a marketing lesson many of us could learn from these winning candidates no matter your own personal political views. 

As Dr. Sean Gresh, a faculty member in Northeastern’s Master of Science in Corporate and Organizational Communication program states, “[A personal brand] is who you are, what you stand for, the values you embrace, and the way in which you express those values.”

When we look at some of the presidential candidate slogans for those in the running for the US 2020 election, we find a few who aren’t adhering to these truths and lessons.

Donald J. Trump has changed his slogan to “Keep America Great”, despite the fact that his MAGA phrasing still lives on in merchandise and in the words of his supporters. While the new slogan is succinct and just three words long, the new slogan’s message is much weaker.

“Keep America Great” suggests that America is now where it should be. Americans have continuous improvement in their DNA, even if that desire for improvement means going back to better times. Keeping things status quo is hard for Americans to rally behind. Despite this, the slogan’s clarity and brevity have proven advantageous in the past and it seems to be one the Trump campaign is sticking to in 2020.

On the Democratic side, however, many have even weaker slogans for their campaigns’ brands. Elizabeth Warren’s wordy “Together, We Will Dream Big And Fight Hard” suggests unity about dreaming and fighting together, two fairly contrasting ideals. 

Also in the verbose category sits Pete Buttigieg’s “It’s Time For A New Generation of American Leadership” slogan. Joe Biden has struggled with wording, as well, recently rebranding his campaign vehicles after a failed “No Malarky!” message left followers wondering if his use of words were from a long-ago era.

Mike Bloomberg and Amy Klobuchar are similar to one another in that they each have self-centered slogans. “I like Mike” and “Amy for America” both focus on the candidates themselves rather than a vision or mission. 

Contrast that with Bernie Sanders, who openly calls himself a democratic socialist and may have the strongest slogan that marries up to his own personal brand on the Democratic side: “Not me. Us.”  Sanders, known for disliking any focus on himself or his own personal history, sees himself as an advocate for The People.

Since business leaders often view success in terms of money generated, we can connect winning slogans with Bernie’s Q4 2019 earnings which boasted the highest of any democratic presidential candidate.

Similar to “Get Brexit Done” and “Make America Great Again”, “Not me. Us.” has one more critical aspect to it. The slogan isn’t about the person it represents. The understanding that Bernie and his followers seem to have is that it’s not about Bernie Sanders. His campaign and socialist strategies are meant for the underserved, undervalued, and underprivileged.

None of the winning slogans were ever about Boris or Donald. And Bernie’s slogan isn’t about Bernie. Instead, these succinct slogans oversimplify the vision for the people the slogans serve.

For Donald, Boris, and for Bernie, these candidates are simply the leader and the guide helping the true heroes of the story get what they deserve, whether that be getting Brexit done, making America great, or fighting inequalities and injustices. 

As Donald Miller, owner of StoryBrand explains, if you have a strong brand “you’re the guide — the person with the right kind of heart and experience to help your heroic customers overcome their problems and win the day.”

What entrepreneurs and business leaders can learn from successful candidates is this: keep the message simple and make it about them not you.