Few Know the Harris Brand, and That's Not Good

In 1968, an advertising marketing campaign debuted from the 7UP brand, a lemon-lime soda alternative to the popular colas of the time, Coke and Pepsi. Although the "Uncola" campaign was met with critical accolades, its effectiveness is somewhat dubious, as evidenced by its lack of longevity in the current market share data.

If this sounds familiar to our current political state of affairs, it is, and here's why.

Kamala Harris is the unbrand because she is neither Joe Biden's nor Donald Trump's personal brand; she is the "un-" to these brand originals. Her pseudo marketers are positioning her as not like either of the candidates; this alone is her brand benefit, like 7UP had.

The problem with this thinking is that not being someone — or something in the case of 7UP — doesn't communicate a benefit for voting for her.

Advertising is more than catchy slogans. It must resonate with voters, as best said by the advertising agency McCann-Erickson in the popular book that bears its title, "Truth Well Told: McCann-Erickson and the Pioneering of Global Advertising."

Advertising is the "Truth Well Told."

In a column penned by this author, "Why I left the Democratic Party," I noted that Harris, in addition to being positioned as neither Biden nor Trump, is associated with Biden's administration policies, whether she likes them or not.

These policies include:

• A decrease in oil production that not only increased the price of oil for many Americans but added to inflation and the strengthening of Russia and Iran, along with other rogue oil-producing nations that have benefited from this flawed policy.
• A misinformed energy resolution, often referred to as the "Green New Deal," which is short-sighted and will only hurt working Americans. With their alarmist bias, the people of the Earth only have a few years to get this "right," which means that energy reliance on fossil fuels must be eliminated immediately to avoid the planet's destruction.
• A feeble foreign approach to confronting global evildoers. Whether it be Russia, China, Iran, or North Korea, the Democrats' feckless positions have caused a virtual chaotic world environment where the future is somewhat dubious for even the uncritical voter.
• And the last issue, but certainly not the least, must be the border. This is where the newly arrived receive more benefits than those working poor who have had their needs replaced by this more activist philosophy, which mines potential new voters to acquire long-term brand market share.

For most voters, Kamala's weakness is that she is on the wrong side of the issues. No marketing campaign can change this, which presents a challenge for Brand Kamala.

As the saying goes in advertising, no matter how good the marketer thinks their brand is, if the dog doesn't like the dog food, one doesn't have a product to sell. You can't sell meat to vegans, no matter how hard one tries.

Said another way, one cannot get citizens to vote simply because one creates a need that one believes will sell. There must be a real benefit, and the Harris campaign is betting that the benefit is that Harris is not Biden or Trump: a marketing strategy that has failed in past marketing communications. 7UP anyone? 

In short, Brand Kamala has two issues she needs to address: the first is that she is the unbrand to Biden and Trump, and the second is she is not Biden from a personal brand perspective; she is associated with Biden's policies, whether she likes them or not — a dilemma for her campaign. 

If she figures out the magic sauce for solving this branding and marketing predicament, she can say it's always easier when you have marketing in mind.

Dr. John Tantillo is a Marketing Professor at Lander College For Men at Touro University and the author of the popular book, "People Buy Brands Not Companies." Read More of his Reports - Here.