JKR

Sometimes one’s inspiration and influences can be worn a little too clumsily on one’s sleeve. “Vote for Change” was coined for Kerry against Bush, and was much in evidence in the Obama campaign. This text book example of successfully branding a candidate has clearly influenced the Cameron communication. But the Conservatives’ attempts to appear an up to the minute brand have an inverse effect to the one desired – “Conservatives launch iPhone app” should not be at number three in the things they are excited about on the Conservative website I would hazard. And so it goes – “join us on facebook, sorry, our Twitter is down” etc. etc. They even have an online shop where one can get some ersatz “cool graphic” posters (in the broadly modern style of the famous Obama ones):

It all feels like watching one’s dad dancing. A conundrum for the marketing guys I’m sure – after all designing to an aesthetic which might appeal to old Thatcherites (perhaps a tie in to the Franklyn Mint?) wouldn’t send out the right message. The identity is tasked with heralding “modernity” but acting cool and cutting edge feels equally unconvincing, in the same way that David Cameron’s “I love darts, Guinness and Sky+” and his airbrushed photo claims have attracted derision.

In graphical terms, I think the Vote for Change logo is a good example of how aiming for broad appeal with a little bit of this and a little bit of that can produce a design soup which ultimately adds up to nothing memorable or coherent. In another bit of borrowed cool, the vote for change logo seems to owe much to the above work of Barbara Kruger (although her messages were subversive, zeitgeisty and generally had more teeth). Colourways: bright blue (a zesty new pantone for the old brand), with green (reflecting the new-ish tree logo and offering a suggestion of an eco-aware agenda). Then, oh cripes, we might be alienating Norman Tebbit with all this, let’s slap on a Union Jack for good measure.

The resultant hodge-podge says nothing specific to no-one in particular. The definition of weak brand image. Mocking the Conservatives for overtly courting a dress-down Friday image has been like shooting fish in a barrel since William Hague donned a baseball cap for some team building, but one wonders why the party does not play to its strengths and project an image with a little more reserved gravitas. Is such a tactic at odds with suggesting an evolved party?

These observations are not intended to be political – after all one might be a true-blue tory and still despair over the party’s re-brand. But in the interests of even-handedness, it’s worth mentioning that Labour’s home page with its sub-Guardian newspaper rainbow of colours, and the LibDems’ dreary efforts (which look like they took their inspiration from a financial services homepage) are no oil paintings either. Elections are never going to be won and lost on the quality of the graphics, but with a hung parliament predicted, one might have imagined one or other party coming to the conclusion that it might be worth having a distinctive, honest, decent looking and original approach to the branding of their values.