As a consultant who offers brand management advice to businesses, I can't help but compare the political contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama with Alka-Seltzer and Bromo-Seltzer.
Like the seltzers, Hillary and Barack offer to bring the country back from an upset stomach, acid indigestion and a pain in the neck. And, like the two bestselling seltzers, they offer to do it with basically the same ingredients.
However, at least at this point in their campaigns, we don't know which one is Alka-Seltzer -- the most popular brand -- and which is Bromo-Seltzer -- a solid brand, but definitely a second-place finisher.
Because some might disagree with me about the ingredients issue, I asked a Democrat friend to take one of those "select-a-candidate" tests that have been going around the Internet. After answering a series of questions indicating your views concerning a catalog of issues, your results are compared with the stated positions of the candidates. Assuming some margin of error, my friend matched up evenly with Barack (27 points) and Hillary (25 points).
Clearly, this purchasing decision will be made less on the substance of their position papers and more on the content of their characters, or on what I would call their personal brands.
In a business context, the brand concept measures how effective a company's resources are being deployed to develop a relationship between a consumer and a product. The strength of the relationship is determined by measuring the repeat purchase of a product at the expense of competing products. Through decades of investments and experience, manufacturers became proficient at building a relationship between a consumer and a product, thus establishing a distinctive brand.
Clearly humans (including politicians) have an interest in better relationships to help them achieve their goals, and they can use their special qualities to make a difference. Merriam-Webster defines politics as the "total complex of relations between people living in society."
It's that "total complex of relations" that gets to the crux of personal branding. Like a company brand, a personal brand is not simply a logo, tag line or catch phrase on a package or a campaign poster.
Personal brands, like consumer products, are admired because they demonstrate an ability to use their distinctive qualities and values to make a difference for someone else.
In other words, admired brands, both personal and business, are perceived to be distinctive, relevant and consistent.
In the heyday of the Alka-Seltzer brand, success was the result of strong relationships with customers, suppliers and employees and a reliable product -- backed by the trust of a respected company.
The advertising slogan -- "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is" -- became shorthand for the relevance and value in consumers' relationships with Alka-Seltzer.
Similarly, personal brand is a perception or an emotion by others that having a relationship with you will make a positive difference in their lives.
In the current campaign, the leading Democratic contenders are branded this way: Barack = hope, Hillary = experience.
Business and personal brands focus not only on what they do, but hold themselves accountable for the impression that was left as a result of their actions. Hence, a business or a politician will require careful stewardship of their brands.
If your brand is built on a solid foundation of authentic values and you are consistently true to those values, you will have a strong brand.
People with strong brands will typically show they have used authenticity to fuel their successes. Whether consciously or unconsciously, they have prepared themselves for success by living the values they profess to hold.
The Barack brand of "hope and a prayer" -- packaged in a trendy logo of bright sun and red arcs and delivered with eloquence, authority and coolness -- has some of the pop, fizz and simplicity that make a strong brand. But his lack of experience leaves some room for doubt about his authenticity.
On the other hand, Hillary's brand of experience is presented in a very traditional style and projected in a serious and thoughtful manner, often without much pop or fizz. While some might perceive her brand as "same old, same old," others may see her as someone who didn't just come down with yesterday's rain.
Two very different, but successful, personal brands. In the end, the one whose brand is perceived to be most authentic will end up as the seltzer that will make the finals and get a chance to cure the country's ills.
Karl D. Speak is the founder of Beyond Marketing Thought, a Minneapolis-based brand-management company. He can be reached at speakk@brandnetwork.com.
