Last week, Kamala Harris presented “We chose Freedom” as the first campaign theme to position herself against Donald Trump. For brand expert and Ries lead partner Michael Brandtner, however, there would be a much stronger theme from a brand perspective to win the minds and hearts of voters. An analysis and recommendation:

Following the resignation of Joe Biden as presidential candidate in the USA, Kamala Harris now faces the task of beating Donald Trump in the presidential election. The first polls, as reported by various media, make it clear that Harris can compete with Donald Trump. For example, in the first nationwide poll by Reuters/Ipsos after Biden’s withdrawal, Harris was ahead of Trump with 44% of registered voters. The latter came in at 42 percent. In other studies, however, Trump was just ahead of Harris. From this perspective, it looks like it will be a neck-and-neck race.

The future positioning of Kamala Harris will be crucial. She and her advisors should have three points in particular in mind:

(1) Start with the mind

Whenever you look at a situation from a brand perspective, you should not start with your own brand, but with the mental context. In the USA, this mental context is currently characterized by an iconic image, namely Donald Trump after the shooting attempt with his fist.

This image alone has enormous visual power, which was and is verbally reinforced by Trump’s spontaneous: “Fight! Fight! Fight!” These three words are not only strongly associated with this image, but will also accompany Trump throughout the rest of the election campaign. This was already evident during his speech at the party convention in Milwaukee. The crowd chanted exactly these three words.

(2) Think strategically right

This iconic image and slogan of Trump is exactly where Harris should strategically start. Our brains love so-called either-or controversies. However, it is important to contrast a positive idea with a positive counter-idea. Instead of relying on “dirty campaigning”, Harris should follow this “Fight! Fight! Fight!” with a positive idea of her own.

In other words, especially when it comes to political or social issues, how you position yourself skillfully in an either-or controversy can play a major role. Let’s take a look at the USA when it comes to the controversial issue of abortion. Opponents of abortion in the USA have an extremely strong identity under the slogan “Pro Life”. In other words, they actively campaign for life and against abortion. But how can you differentiate yourself positively from the “Pro Life” idea? The supporters of abortion found a positive counter-idea in “Pro Choice”. They stand up for a woman’s freedom of choice. So both movements each have a strong positive idea.

(3) Three key tasks

This would give Kamala Harris and her team of advisors three key tasks as a basis:

(1) To develop a slogan or rallying cry of their own that would rival the “Fight! Fight! Fight” from Trump.

(2) Based on this, they should create a symbol, a gesture or even a logo with which they can visually dramatize their own slogan, especially in speeches.

(3) Once they have established these first two points, they should develop the dramaturgy, i.e. the campaign program in detail, from the initial presentation to the speech after the possible election victory.

Unite! against Fight!

With the “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, Trump perfectly reinforced and strengthened his previous slogan ‘Make America Great Again’. This and his campaign style will continue to contribute to controversy and division. This is where Harris could come in to explain that “Fight! Fight! Fight!” alone is not enough for America.

America now needs strong unity in the spirit of “Unite! Unite! Unite!”. In addition, this slogan could also create a strong unifying effect within the Democratic Party, which is always essential in an election campaign. The ideal start would certainly be a joint speech, i.e. “united” with Barack Obama. This could then also result in an extremely strong key image with symbol and gesture. And the crowd could then chant “Unite! Unite! Unite!” or even “Unite! Unite! United States!”. Seen in this light, “Unite!” could be a much stronger idea than the current “Freedom” by Kamala Harris.