Daily Research News Online no. 4019 - In Case You Haven't Noticed...

In Case You Haven't Noticed...

April 26 2005

... the UK's general election is just over a week away, and this is our first mention of it. Lightspeed Research and branding and design consultancy Landor Associates have released results of a study of brands associated with the three main party leaders. Charles Kennedy may laugh inwardly to see both Tony Blair and Michael Howard associated with Rover, but he himself is a Mini...

The study, entitled Premier ImagePower(r), is based around 'the belief that brands help people make choices in all areas of life... Mapping Tony Blair, Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy to well-known product, corporate, retail and service brands reveals how each candidate is perceived among key voter groups and suggests brand strategies each can employ to potentially sway the critical undecided voter group'.

The authors point out that whilst political allegiance in Britain, in contrast to America, has been primarily based around the importance of the party over leader, the impact of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair has shifted UK politics towards a more presidential style, making such an assessment 'more relevant than ever before'. Even those who don't think it supremely relevant will no doubt enjoy some of the associations.

Respondents were asked to map the three candidates to six brands in each of six categories. Brands were chosen to provide a range of choice in terms of price, quality and originality, including two each of premium options, mainstream and 'value'.

The findings opine that 'Blair is still a leadership brand, but increasingly losing his edge... Howard is by and large a premium brand, but with some worrying associations... and Kennedy is a challenger brand, but may remain so, meaning he will be less appealing to more voters'. Generally they suggest that amongst the undecided voters, candidates are failing to differentiate themselves very significantly.

The total sample associated the leaders with the following brands in each category:

The total sample associated the leaders with the following brands in each category:

	Blair	Howard	Kennedy
TV	ITV	BBC	Channel 4
Cars	Rover	Rover	Mini
Technology	Microsoft	Bang&Olufsen	Apple
Supermarket	Tesco	M&S	Morrisons
Restaurant	Motorway Services	Cafe Rouge	Pizza Express
Hotels	Travelodge	Savoy	Holiday Inn

Undecided respondents came up with quite different views - rather oddly given the Gilligan affair they associate Tony Blair with the BBC; also with Apple computers and Sainsbury's. In the restaurant sector, they associate all three candidates with motorway service stations - surely the most significant result although its precise interpretation is up for grabs. Anyone?

Tony Blair is generally associated with mainstream brands, some of whom like Tesco and Microsoft are 'category leaders to the extent that their position can be seen as both a strength and liability'. In other respects however he is seen as a commodity brand or a less premium mainstream brand. In most categories, he is identified with less premium brands than Howard. His challenge is 'ultimately to persuade people that his brand is still valuable and trustworthy'.

[NB The survey was conducted just before the Rover collapse, but the association remains ironic. Rejected by focus groups? We seem to have kept quiet about that one and it's probably wise.]

Michael Howard is 'generally associated with premium and established brands'. The authors say that 'While this would ordinarily be no bad thing, premium brands are not by their nature democratic - while
respected they can also be aloof and even arrogant'. In terms of his challenge, it says 'Howard is certainly differentiated and scores well in terms of knowledge. It remains to be seen, however, whether his brand is sufficiently relevant or esteemed to sway voters towards the Conservative Party'.

Charles Kennedy is generally associated with brands which are less mainstream (Channel Four, Apple, Mini) - 'challenger brands' which are 'proud of their difference and make a virtue of it in their communications'. The authors say his brands indicate a possible public perception of the Liberal Democrat party as 'the proponents of an alternative (challenging) agenda and their status as a smaller (value) political party'. They conclude: 'People still expect their leader to be 'prime ministerial' and on this measure, Kennedy's association with niche and value brands may be too great a liability'.

Lightspeed's web site is at www.lightspeedresearch.com . The web sites of the main - and minor - UK political parties can be found via MrWeb sector focus page for the public sector, www.mrweb.com/govt (drop-down in blue middle section).

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.