Call Me GOP

Well, the process took a little longer than expected, but we’ve come to the end of our Call Me, G.O.P. experiment. What have we learned?

It seems the core of the Republican Party is no longer in charge, and it’s driven by the far-right fringe, who are often pushing a personal agenda (Rush Limbaugh is reportedly looking into buying an NFL franchise…can’t make this stuff up, folks) at the expense of more inclusive party principles.

The G.O.P. needs to regain control to be a whole party again. And soon—before history passes the Republicans up. The squabbling about social issues must stop, and the party needs to focus on what they agree on, mainly limited government and fiscal responsibility. As the economy continues to fall apart, the G.O.P. can be a credible voice of experience, leveraging its conservative heritage to bring good sense to complex financial issues. But it can only happen if party members are encouraged to put the party ahead of themselves to make it stronger as a whole, before their differences destroy the platform.

And the process? Well, it’s been interesting, to say the least, but we learned a lot. One insight: some brands are just not easy to create a platform for. But every brand has a story to tell, as we’re fond of saying, and inviting you guys to join the fun of helping the G.O.P. find its soul really delivered some powerful insights. We hope it was as fun for you as it was for us.

Overall, we enjoyed the entire process. In fact, we decided to turn the “Call Me…” rebranding exercise into a series, where we take different brands through our process and help them find their voice…whether they’re ready for us or not. And we’d love for you to continue to play along. Next up? Financial services. Who’s more troubled—and in need of finding their soul—than the banking industry? They’d better look out…we’re on their case.  Watch this space for details!

The next step is the metaphor exercise. Metaphors are powerful tools in storytelling because of the impact they can have on the audience. In our process, we use them to understand how people feel about a brand. For example, comparing a brand to a mouse or a Porsche almost immediately captures the audience’s perception of it.

It looks like this: I’ll set up a few examples and you fill in the blanks. And don’t be afraid to come up with your own comparisons. It’s time for you to get creative with the G.O.P.

• As an animal, the G.O.P. is ________________ because _______________.
• As a car, it is ________________ because _______________.
• As a movie genre, it is ________________ because _______________.
• As a food, it is ________________ because _______________.

I’ll start by giving an example: As a tree, the G.O.P. is an oak because it’s strong and old, with long roots.

Get the picture? This should be an enjoyable exercise — so have some fun with it!