Use consistent language to cut through the noise.

Consider how the following brand images make you feel.

A brand is not a slogan or a logo. It is a feeling you give to people about you and your work when the brand comes to mind.

One of the best examples of this is the Duke University study on how the Apple logo made people feel vs the IBM logo. Here is a link to the study.

341 university students were flashed either the Apple or IBM logo so quickly that they were unaware they saw them.

Then, they were assigned the task of listing all of the uses for a brick that they could imagine, beyond building a wall.

The researchers found that people who were exposed to the Apple logo generated far more unusual, creative uses for the brick, compared with those who were primed with the IBM logo.

As we’ve seen over years, this makes sense: Apple is consistently messaging to us that its brand is about creativity, and thinking outside the box.

David Axelrod and Karl Rove, in their MasterClass on campaign strategy and messaging, say it helps to have a phrase said throughout a politician's campaign, such as

• “build back better” for Biden

• “yes we can” for Obama

• "make American great again” for Trump.

Cycling through too many slogans can cause confusion within the campaign operations on what message the staff needs to send.

If the staff is confused, the potential voters are definitely confused. How can they remember any message from your campaign among all the other noises they have in their life?

Taking control of the narrative indicates offense, because the campaign can talk about what it wants when it wants.

Losing control of the narrative means the opponent forced a campaign to talk about things it does not want to talk about.

To win this chess match of messaging, against direct opponents and indirect opponents, you need to have consistent messaging and branding across your entire organization.

THE TAKEAWAY: Use consistent language to cut through the noise.