Brands learning from the 2012 Qld election
By Murray Berghan,
creative director & managing partner of Make Communications
What can brands learn from the biggest whitewash in Australian political history – The 2012 Queensland election?
Customer loyalty is something that many brands rely on, but do very little to truly maintain, outside of product improvement.
Sure there are some good loyalty campaign examples, but just how many great ones are there? It’s a bit like romantic relationships, so many of us are incredibly enthusiastic and happy to put in effort in the beginning, but then over time we become complacent. Mind you, in our relationships we’re not being paid to listen and act for the majority. Phew…thank goodness for that!
The good ol’ Aussie institution of being ‘either or’, has been booted out the window this election. You’re a Labor or Liberal (LNP of course), Holden or Ford guy, right? It seems, regardless of loyalties, there comes a time when ‘trust’ comes into question, and when this does, loyalties get reviewed.
Who would have ever imagined that Queensland Labor loyalists would be voting for another party? For so many, backing a political party was something it seemed, was ‘in the blood’. Just because their dad’s dad voted one way there was a tendency to follow in their footsteps, not unlike the Holden/Ford debate.
This election shows that when the customer knows they have other brand choices, they do the voting with their feet. Labor had 51 seats in 2009, and only seven in 2012, losing many of their long standing seats and the next generation of leaders (their product).
As commercial brands, we must all consider that despite the deepest customer loyalties, we need to be proactively building trust so we can weather any storm with our customer by our side.
Who would be caught dead saying they are a Labor supporter after this election? God forbid, it would be worse than saying you’re a Kiwi on Australian soil (something this writer has to live with daily).
Campbell Newman surprised many, and made Australian political history on Saturday 24th of March 2012. Mind you, the real debate is, did Labor lose or did the LNP win?
Regardless, if brands lose trust, customers (including loyal customers) walk to the next best available option.
The moral of the story: if you lose trust with the customer, blood is no longer thicker than water. And if you’re in advertising, voting in the LNP is going to result in state Government cuts on advertising.