The Sydney Trump skywriting was simple, powerful and effective! (Image Credit and Thanks to Hektik Hektor – Twitter)
If you have been connected to anything attached to the internet over the past 24 to 48 hours as I write this blog; you would have been watching both sides of the Donald Trump inauguration as the 45th President of the United States.
You have the world divided into two clear sides and few strangely are in the middle. If you ask someone if they are “PRO” or “AGAINST” Trump you will get an answer one way or the other.
The fascinating fallout from all this has been the protests against Trump or the counter protests in solidarity with Trump. It’s been going on for what is seemingly years now and you are seeing a massive transition of power seemingly occur ‘overnight’.
As the darkness turns to daylight and power goes from the ‘Left’ to the ‘Right’ globally; we are all reviewing what happened. The victors are still asking themselves “How did we do that?” with the losing side saying “How did we let this happen?”
My own research of both polling people in groups and online has shown from a Marketing viewpoint that the ‘Left’ lost big time due to not having a clear message. I remember asking this in multiple workshops in “What is Hillary’s tagline?” and “What is Donald Trump’s tagline?’
Instantly you would hear with mincing or smiling “Make America Great Again” and love the Donald or not – his marketing was on track and on message. Hillary’s message of “Stronger Together” was not mentioned to me once out of speaking to at least 50 pro Hillary female supporters (her use of multiple taglines including “I’m with Her” and “Love Trump’s Hate” got recall from maybe one or two people).
Interestingly talking to the protests you have playing out, I think they are actually wonderful (even though I am pro-Trump). It’s critical to send the new US government a message that the world is watching and as someone who is very counter-culture (as I was until Trump got in) I respect that. To my odd disappointment I was watching one of the head organisers of the ‘Anti-Trump’ rally in Sydney yesterday get interviewed.
I loved her passion, but whenever she was talking I had trouble understanding what she was actually after with the protests. She kept saying they are not just ‘Anti-Trump’ and they are after ‘Equality’.
They poorly explained it beyond this point and it was tragic actually; they have all this wonderful airtime and you can tell that they clearly haven’t through what they really want:
- Protesting to have Trump removed from a democratically won fair election? Not going to happen.
- Protesting to have Trump removed because you think he is something ‘ist’? Not going to happen.
It was actually a prime opportunity to go after something decent, concrete and get out a clear message as to what they want that is actually actionable. Saying “we hate Trump” only makes his supporters stronger, wins him sympathy from undecided voters and makes one’s only side more venomous.
I would have loved to have seen what they actually want and protesting with a clear message. Sure, be anti-Trump – but what solution are you proposing?
As they didn’t have this; I could see even their supporters in the Twitter-verse confused, unclear and not totally in the zone of what they want?
My advice and thinking? To the protestors against Trump (and this is coming from a Trump fan), you need to have a very clear message of what you actually want. This will really help galvanise your movement and get you what you want. The guys behind the Sydney Skywriting of ‘Trump’ during your protests unfortunately ‘Trumped’ you to so to speak. It really took away from what you were doing and sorry to see that happen to you (and I mean that, I wish you guys had a greater win to hold Trump accountable).
To those who are out of politics, it’s a great case to learn from; make sure your own marketing is clear in what you are saying and what you want. Why is your product / service the best? Why should people buy from you? How can you explain it as simply as possible so ‘anyone’ would get it with the least amount of mental effort.
Great marketing is simple, powerful with a clear message. It brings everyone together, makes it clear and sets you to win big time.
Love your work, thank you for the read and good luck protestors! Get clear, hit some real policies and hold the Trump Administration accountable big time!
P.S. Image Credit and Thanks to Hektik Hektor – Twitter
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