Rebranding The Change

Team Obama is trying to figure out what will sell this time around:

Advisers say a fresh slogan to replace the winning "Change we can believe in" mantra of 2008, is unlikely to appear before Obama knows who his Republican opponent will be and starts big campaign travel swings, likely in the spring or summer.

His campaign posters now say simply, "Obama 2012."

But Obama's surrogates have roadtested some slogans in recent months, including "Winning The Future," which the White House used to promote its budget, and "Greater Together," which the campaign has used to brand its youth outreach effort.

A new tagline will have to reflect a new reality.

Obama is no longer a Washington outsider, unemployment is falling but still high, and economic insecurity for many voters is a huge concern that a simple slogan cannot overcome.
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In his State of the Union address last month, the president also played up the issue of economic fairness, which branding experts said could encapsulate his 2012 pitch.

"Owning 'fairness' is a powerful idea, but getting that idea communicated in a clear, sticky way is very hard," said Allen Adamson, managing director of marketing firm Landor Associates.

"Telling that story is more difficult than telling a 'change' story because you have to define fairness for who, and what's unfair, and why is fairness important. Change was a brutally simple idea."

Maybe that's because when most people hear "Fairness" from Obama, they know they'll be expected to pay for it...