A lesson on branding from the 2024 presidential election
Unsolicited thoughts 4 weeks later
I’ve had four weeks to process the election, and my main takeaway is that I’m an idiot for being so shocked over the outcome. From the rip-roaring DNC to the camo hats, I was a total sucker for all of the Gen-Z hype around the Harris Walz campaign leading up to election night. I was blind-sided by the energy and consequently blind-sided by the result. I watched the news in my camo hat with total shock. I kept thinking… How can I only count maybe five people in my life who I know to be outward Trump supporters, yet witness the majority of the country voting for him? And don’t even get me started on the Trump Vance merch…
The Harris Walz campaign succeeded in getting all of Brooklyn to wear their hats – Perhaps the last demographic they needed to attract (or give more ironic camo to). They even double-downed on the Brooklyn-ites by building a platform on abortion rights, and in doing so, totally neglected the crucial working class voters who unfortunately have to care way more about affording a carton of milk over their body’s autonomy. Now that I’ve seen through the campaign’s hype beast marketing, I’ve realized that all of the accoutrement that came with it – from the Lil Jon performance to the Alex Cooper interview – was pretty offensive and tone deaf to the current state of affairs. Instead of the big, fun, buzz-worthy moments and finger-pointing at Trump, it would have been way more effective for the Dems to point the finger back at themselves, acknowledge the mess we’re in, and clearly demonstrate a brighter future for those that are struggling the most.
My two favorite journalists – one a veteran broadcaster and the other an aspiring reporter – sum this up the best:
My uncle, Brian Williams, calling out the Democrats on Seth Meyers last week
My best friend, Anna Gildea, writing her thoughts heading into election night
I certainly will not pretend to know everything about the Democratic party’s platform and campaign strategy, but what I can do is lend my thoughts as someone who gets paid to think about brands and marketing all day. My conclusion: The Harris Walz campaign broke rule #1 of brand/marketing: Know your audience. Likewise, the campaign’s marketing completely masked the cracks in the party’s foundation and the reality of the world. Branding that outpaces a product’s actual validity is never successful. Was this a political Fyre Festival!?
After many months of raw-raw and hype, the weirdest part about the election was that hardly anyone spoke about it afterwards. Wednesday felt silent. I very naively expected to walk outside my apartment to hugging and sobbing on the (Brooklyn…) streets. What I was met with, instead, was total avoidance. On the subway, in the office, at the gym… Very little discussion. It was this feeling of 1. Total failure and hanging heads low and 2. Woah, okay, maybe there’s more people who are less like me than I thought. The ladder has been a really great reminder of how easy it is to live in our bubbles and be blinded by our own egos, or in this case, camouflage the reality with our own cute camo hats?! This is the classic conundrum of brands and marketers in today’s world, whether it be a political campaign or a consumer product.
On my last day of my first job out of college, Chris Raih, founder of the ad agency and the greatest first boss I could have asked for, reminded me of the importance of perspective when it comes to marketing and knowing your audience. His parting advice was the lesson of Abraham Wald and Survivorship Bias – To never estimate the success of something after it’s already passed the test of being successful (surviving), and thus, building a false reality.
The Harris Walz campaign built its energy and momentum around survivorship bias. They/we fueled ourselves with the energy we already knew to be true, and as a result, myself and many others were led to fully believe in its success while totally neglecting the reality of a huge and very important population of voters.
Now what? Politically, I hope this is a huge wake-up call for the Democrats to take accountability, start from square zero, see/listen to/engage with the working class and build a party for them that can be successful in upcoming elections. Personally, I hope to cary this reminder of perspective forward through both my work as a marketer and my role as an everyday human in this world; Looking past our own egos and bubbles to connect with and learn from people who are completely different from us. The goal? Find and fuel that one tiny nugget that unites us all. It wasn’t a camouflage hat in 2024, but whatever it is, is out there somewhere…