The Lesson of Political Slogans: Concision. Concision. Concision.
Published on 2nd May 2024Ladies and gents, fasten your seatbelts because the biggest election year in human history is just getting started.
This year people from over 60 countries will be heading out to vote, and in England and Wales our big moment (before the even bigger moment – whenever that might be announced) kicks off on Thursday 2nd May when polling stations will be open, ready to welcome an army of voters.
So, what better time to look at the world of political slogans and see if there are any lessons for us as brand marketers?
Some of the most remembered, political slogans:
- Make America great again.
- Labour isn’t working.
- Build back better.
- Take back control.
- Get Brexit done.
- Yes we can.
These bite-sized messages – whether you love them or hate them – work. They’re sticky. Memorable. Easy to read. Full of emotion. Full of meaning. And they’re only three words long. The average brand could only dream of such clarity.
Let’s unpack why they work, why they don’t, and what lessons we might be able to take from them as advertisers.
The death of nuance
Their strength in brevity also gives way to their weakness, the removal of any nuance. Slogans are truly the fast food of political advertising to the manifestos 10-course banquet. To be this short and pithy they need to oversimplify, which is perhaps why they’re simultaneously palatable yet unsatisfying, hurrying us towards the primal, emotions of fear, love, anger or hope without dilly-dallying in detail - just like how the best headlines take the emotional shortcut.
Plain English
Also known as the Nan test: Could you say this to your Nan and she’d get it immediately? The simple language of all these slogans paired with the imagery each conjures up is their power, and a useful reminder to kill the jargon – no one understands you otherwise.
Concision. Concision. Concision
Ultimately – these slogans are memorable because they are succinct. They distil intricate politics into a few words making them accessible to a wide audience. And what more is there to say than that?
So, advertisers, as more and more of these slogans start cropping up let’s try and ditch the laundry lists of RTBs, ingredients and product benefits, and let them serve as a timely remember that it’s not our job to explain, it’s to embed.
Author: Kayley Almond, Strategy Director, McCann Demand.
