How the Lib Dems can produce a killer political slogan
22 April 2011 1 Comment
Political slogans that people can remember are priceless in a campaign. Some researchers in the US believe that candidates with the best, most memorable ad slogans usually win. So how can the Lib Dems improve their slogans?
Orwell once said “From time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase into the dustbin, where it belongs.” And history is littered with appallingly bad slogans such as
- I’m not a witch, I’m you!
- Immigration Is a Problem. Just Ask an Indian.
- Don’t Stop, Keep Going On!
- Are You Thinking What We Are Thinking?
The Lib Dems 2010 General Election slogan of “Change that works for you. Building a fairer Britain” may have seemed like an appeal to both Labour and Conservative camps but it ended up being unusually long with an uncomfortable pause and many thought it was unlikely to win the party any new friends.
What makes a good slogan is language and context. Get both of these right and you get a killer slogan. Some that have captured the context right have been “Don’t Swap Horses in Midstream” (Abraham Lincoln, 1864) and “I propose a New Deal” (Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932). However, the chief marketing officer of Epsilon says that one of the problems in modern politics is that campaign political strategists often write the line rather than creative people with a flair for writing. Those who have used creative talents have benefitted such as “Britain Deserves Better” (Labour, 1997) or “Labour Isn’t Working” (Conservative, 1979).
The problem for most people trying to come up with slogan is that creativity is hard, the context continually changes and the slogans end up using political language resulting in it sounding unbelievable. So the best slogans often end up being accidental, such as “It’s the economy, stupid”, an impromptu exhortation scrawled by James Carville, Bill Clinton’s campaign strategist, in 1992; or the unofficial Lib Dem slogan, given by Gordon Brown “I agree with Nick.”
We have very little influence on the context as this is continually changing but it needs to be at the forefront of the mind of those who are making up the slogans for the Lib Dems as it seems at present this is distinctly lacking.
If we go back to what has worked for the party it has been simple language. Nick Clegg won the first debate, not because he said anything startlingly new, but because he used straightforward language, not the processed verbal pabulum that people have come to associate with politics. Five years ago the Lib Dems were all about simplicity, running with “The Real Alternative” as Charles Kennedy won the party their highest number of seats on the back of its opposition to the Iraq war.
Reading the suggestions by those in the party on LibDemVoice for a slogan seemed to read without a context and used political language. It is not that people are not trying or don’t have good ideas, it is that we are trying too hard. A good slogan comes naturally, in the context at the time, in a language people ‘get’.
One of the best slogans the UK has seen was the wordplay employed by Labour in 1957, who, reacting to Harold Macmillan’s government’s “Never had it so good”, hit back with “Never been had so good”. This placed the slogan in the right context with the right language. It doesn’t sound like it was made up by a politician or executive as much as it does someone down the pub.
Instead of people coming up with ideas and putting them on a website, or executives, or politicians sitting around a table, maybe we all need to go somewhere more natural, with people who are not political and just talk about politics and maybe something will come out that can be used. With 70,000 in the party maybe one sentence used in the pub by one member would make a great slogan?
I absolutely agree with you that whatever you might pay an ad agency to come up with (Labservative for example), you can’t beat someones bright idea whilst shaving in the morning, or something someone quips down the proverbial pub. The problem is how to capture a great idea! And how to do that without letting the whole world read it on your blog before the time is right.
Simply, an ‘ideas’ link on the Lib Dem website with a password (membership number and surname) to complete a box with your idea and a drop-down category to ensure these are filtered effectively to the right person. This probably won’t ever happen though because it depends who reads this.
Back to slogans, context is important. We might want something “pure” and a bit defensive that speak of ourselves such as “I vote Liberal” or “think different!” but the best slogans tend to be those that capture a mood and a priority such as “it’s the economy stupid!” or “Labour isn’t working”. I do regret that after first leaders debate, that we didn’t capitalise on it, whilst addressing a perceived weakness, with the slogan “the cabinet of talent in waiting”.
Sometimes the slogan needs an accompanying image (like ‘Labour isn’t working’) for maximum effect. So imagin what that slogan (the cabinet of talent in waiting) along with an image (taken from slightly above) of our MP’s in V-formation with Nick in front, at the “point”, against a plain background – might have achieved in solidifying support.