The bucket list as Mu’azu moves to rebrand PDP

On April 23, 2015, the national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Mu’azu, disclosed that “the PDP National Working Committee, under my supervision, will be able to rebrand the party, redirect the party, and ensure that the party takes up its national and state leadership position”. My takeaway from Mu’azu’s statement is the plan to rebrand. Well said. His assessment of the PDP is apt. PDP indeed needs to overhaul its brand image.

According to communication scholars, branding can be applied to politics if we take into account that it “uncovers the underlying strategic concerns of efforts to maintain voter loyalty through communication designed to provide reassurance, uniqueness (clear differentiation from rivals), consistency of values, and emotional connection with voters’ values” (Scammell, 2007: 188).

In 2010, the United States’ Democratic Party, one of the most powerful political parties in the world, commissioned a rebranding effort aimed at steering “voters away from the conventional idea that the Democrats are a Washington-based collection of gray-beards”. They hired SS+K, a New York-based marketing and communications agency, to deconstruct their brief and develop a new emblem and strapline that capture this objective. Consequently, a new circular ‘D’ logo was unveiled to reposition the party as the proponents of a “change that matters”. The new logo replaces the Democrats’ old logo – a donkey draped in the American flag – that symbolises hard work, diligence, humility and a dedication to America. 

The party chairman, Tim Kaine, commented on the new logo on the Democrats blog: “I’m sure you’ll also notice our new look. Some may think: it’s just a logo—it’s just a brand. Well, I don’t believe the Democratic Party is a logo or a brand—we are much more than that. We are Democrats. We create change that matters. Ours is a party of ideas and ideals, of policies and people, history and purpose.”

Similarly in 2012, the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa’s main opposition party, rebranded its logo and crafted a new slogan – ‘Together for Change’ – aimed at portraying the party as multi-ethnic, as well as purging itself of longstanding association with the old apartheid government. Two years later, DA polled 4,091,584 votes (compare to 338,426 votes in 1994) to secure 22.23 percent of South Africa’s National Assembly. The Conservative and the Labour Parties in the United Kingdom and other political parties in other climes are known to have embraced rebranding as strategy to deepen voters’ affinity.

These case studies indicate that PDP’s planned rebranding move has historical backing and scientific concurrence on impact. However, I have developed a bucket-list for the party to tick off ahead of executing this game-changing enterprise.

Research

I recommend that the PDP engages a professional research firm to conduct an audience perception study in ascertaining scientifically-backed conclusions. The study ought to reveal how the voters perceive the party; what failed and what their expectations are. These findings will form the critical constructs for the brief to the branding and marketing communications professionals.

Reform

Demola Olarewaju, a PDP youth member and an active social media activist, stated on his twitter handle the need for immediate reform in the PDP. “Going forward, we must rebuild from where the passion seemed highest – the online crowd. We must attract new party members. The PDP needs youths that won’t see the party as a cash cow; youths that have a means of income other than politics. I always thought the slogan ‘PDP, Shia di moni!’ was something coined by an online ‘tweep’, until a PDP friend swore that they actually say it. I’m confident that PDP will bounce back but we must remodel our approach, from bottom to top.” Enough said.

Restrain

Having assumed a new political role of playing the opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the PDP needs to retool its media engagement strategy. It needs to speak with a unified voice and must be seen to have a unified front in shaping own narratives on national issues. The seemingly multiple spokesperson roles in the PDP will be exploited as a crack by the well-structured APC. Party perspectives must be channelled through a rigidly-centralized party spokesperson. PDP must restrain its members from speaking on any political issue without recourse to the spokesperson to ensure uniformed perspective is communicated at all times.

Reorient

The mistake often made in a rebranding effort is not including internal stakeholders. They are critical to its success. The PDP must embark on a robust road-show across party structure up to the ward level to communicate the need for this exercise. The quest towards repositioning the party must be a shared vision. This activation is necessary to help effectively dissect the strategy and tactics. Expectations must be rightly dimensioned in line with reality.

In conclusion, these prerequisite steps are necessary as strategic communications, public relations and brand management thrive on consistency of message delivery and value creation across board.

Odion Aleobua