HOMEWORK:

Worksheet for Episode 4

RESOURCES:

Pie Animation by Greg Niles

Hope and History by Vincent Harding

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to Rebranding America, a series that explores the question: who would America be if it actually became who it said it was?

For the purposes of this series, we’re looking at this through the lens of marketing and branding. As a reminder: A brand is the promise of an experience.

In the first episode I laid the groundwork of what makes a good marketing campaign successful. As I dove into the process of marketing, I made it clear that a tag line is often created when trying to make a brand promise more shareable/digestible to its intended audience. I explored that, while Declaration of Independence paints a picture of our ideals or values, The American Dream is the best tag line we’ve had to get people to buy into an experience that reflects our collective aspirations. In episode 2, we began the rebrand process with gathering data. Collecting facts about past actions minimizes our risk of repeating behavior that doesn’t match our values and helps us understand more about how large the gap is between what we say and what we do. In the last episode, we began to bridge that gap by diving into our own personal values that build a vision worth pursuing.

But just having a vision worth pursuing isn’t enough. 

Today, we’re going to walk through the process of crafting a message that resonates with the audience the vision is intended to serve. 

Looking at any one of the brands I’ve worked on, I always go back to the values because that’s where conviction lives. And where there is conviction, there is emotion and where there is emotion there is connection. Without conviction, there is no substance. It is entirely possible to create emotionally driven messaging that moves people without it being backed by the substance of an experience that matches that messaging. This is where we find ourselves today – we have the message of America without the experience of it.

We see this a lot in advertising. Art is powerful. Language is powerful. Combine the two and it moves people to care about laundry detergent in a way they usually only reserve for family members or pets. But using art to manipulate people into feeling something and attaching it to an experience that’s void of delivering on that feeling is unethical. It’s a lie. I’ve found that people feel betrayed at core levels when they find out their favorite brands are frauds. There is no end to the damage they’re willing to do to take it down at that point. 

We have a reputation, but our messaging and behavior has been so inconsistent with our values and vision that brand value doesn’t actually exist. So we have a real opportunity here. First, I would start by being as clear as possible about the problem we’re solving by presenting The American Dream and why we’re solving it. It is in this clarity and consistency that the people the vision is intended to serve can reconnect with their own driving forces and unify under a common goal as a result of interacting with America’s. 

We’ve already said that the values are equality, liberty and justice for all. 

The vision is to create a democracy of the people, by the people, for the people. 

We’ve identified that the promise of delivering the vision and values can be found in the brand’s tagline: The American Dream. 

Based on the data we gathered and the definition of the values and the vision, I can establish a general tone for the brand. 

The tone has to reflect a human longing to feel worthy of belonging. The root of the vision and values is indicative of togetherness. So the tone needs to be inviting, warm, inclusive. The same tone and intentionality you would take when hosting your best friend for dinner for the first time in months. This tone instills a sense of safety and freedom to come as you are. To balance this, however, There also needs to be a tone of truth and wisdom that serves to challenge and hold accountable any person or system that wants to assume power over another for their own gain. This is important if we are to validate our seriousness for our values found in a unified community. This is the same tone a beloved grandparent or mentor would use when they’re trying to teach you a life lesson after you’ve stepped out of alignment with your values and who they know you to be capable of.

Great, so we have established that an inviting tone that’s inclusive, thoughtful and honest is where we’re starting. If I were messaging America today, in 2020, that tone would be provocative. It would be disarming and be met with justified skepticism. And that’s ok. Because that’s honest. And honesty is exactly where I’d start in messaging America.

For instance, I would open a campaign with:  We haven’t been a safe place for the tired, weary, huddled masses. We monetized the vulnerabilities of others because we were afraid of our own weaknesses. We were so afraid of not being good enough that we created false superiority on the backs of our neighbors. And we’re exhausted. Moving forward, we want to do the work necessary to make our land a place where everyone can thrive. Where everyone can feel safe and proud to be Americans. Where other nations will look to us generations from now and mark this year as the year Americans rose up, closed the divide and found common ground rooted in equality, liberty and justice for all. Join us in taking back the American Dream. 

Honesty is something that has been done so infrequently that it’s not only the most necessary thing to do to keep the potential of the brand alive, it’s also the best chance at getting everyone’s attention. I would make sure to bring artists from every corner of this nation to the table and ask them to contribute their vision of what the American Dream is. I would use art to paint the picture of the America that has yet to be … the one we still think is worthy of fighting for. It would be an invitation to join without judgement. It would acknowledge the gap in our values and our behavior and take ownership. But mostly, it would give all Americans permission to change their minds and begin the process of changing the way they act, starting right where they are so that together, we could build a brand worthy of everyone. Toni Cade Bambara says “The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.”

This isn’t necessarily easy, however. As with every rebrand, it’s jarring to the previous audience when things shift, especially when the messaging is no longer tailored to them. But there would be no need for a rebrand if that audience was adequate in scaling the vision to as many people as possible who need it. The original target audience wasn’t all. It was all white men. It wasn’t meant to be a democracy of, by and for the people. It was meant to be of, by and for white men of a certain economic bracket. Particularly land owners. But they weren’t specific, so women, children and anyone enslaved by colonists have been revolting ever since. 

That’s why being absolutely clear about who you’re for is critical. Brand value in America has only truly existed for wealthy white men because they were in charge of writing the vision and values and we so often build things in response to what isn’t working for us. What’s so fascinating is the very things they wanted are so innate to the human experience that when they said, all, we ALL felt the power of that dream. 

So when the messaging and experience shifts to be more inclusive and truthful … owning how this has been an experience of  betrayal not hope … it’s going to feel to some like a direct compromise of values when in fact, it’s just a true expression of them. People sometimes look at the American dream like they look at pie – people get the pie, and eventually, there is no more pie, so they obviously want to get as much of the pie as humanly possible to make sure they are never standing there without any pie at all. An unending pie seems like it’s a compromise of what we all expect pie to be – so of course people freak out. “This isn’t magic pie!!!!” But the American Dream isn’t pie. It continues to grow and shift and allow everyone in, if we’re all willing to work for it and if we all believe that everyone belongs. That’s why,  as a marketer, I need to develop messaging and proof that this actually benefits the original audience as well, instead of harming them. For instance, I could acknowledge their fears while also grounding us in facts like how the 14th amendment actually did more for white European immigrants than it did for black Americans because it made us all citizens.

This is where messaging takes time. It takes a tolerance for discomfort, a dedication to repetition and a commitment to reformatting the message for the various demographics on multiple platforms without compromising the integrity of the vision, values or tone. That original audience may never come around but that’s ok. It’s more important to match words with actions than to compromise for a few who were only in it so long as it benefited them. 

That’s where your work begins. Pause this to grab a pen and paper or download the worksheet available in the show notes. 

The first question is, how do you want to be known? Start telling your own story. 

Vincent Harding said, “there is something deeply built into us that needs story itself. That story is a source of nurture that we cannot become really true human beings for ourselves and for each other without story. What I find is that, even in some of the strangest situations, most often where I go, where I speak, where I share, I start out by asking people to tell a little of their stories. And it is amazing what people discover of themselves, of their connections, of their community. It’s wonderful.“

Who are you uniquely positioned to serve? This doesn’t mean, who are you positioned to rescue. It means, who are you positioned to make the American Dream more possible for because of your talents, time and resources? Who can you liberate? Being a more engaged American starts with where you already spend a lot of your time. If you’re a parent, get more engaged in the school district  and develop relationships with parents who have a different needs than you. Learn from them, listen to their stories. If you’re employed, take inventory of the people in power and learn more about hiring practices to push for a greater representation of voices where decisions are made. If you live in a neighborhood, get to know your neighbors. 

Now, if you’re feeling a little uncomfortable … like maybe this work is going to cause you to have to give up something or live a life that is “less than” so others can have more, let me remind you of the pie analogy. First of all, hoarding pie is wasteful. Second, America isn’t a pie.

Who you’re uniquely positioned to serve helps you understand a tone in how you communicate your intention to invest in the world around you. Maybe you’ve always been a bit on the abrasive end when it comes to your communication style. If that’s working for you and you’ve gained real influence to help shift the way people think, great! If you feel gross after conversations or find that people tend to avoid rather than engage with you, it may be time to try a new style. The same can be applied to all tones. Once you know who you want to serve, you can do the work in modifying your tone for optimal impact. All I’m suggesting here is that we be thoughtful in how we Think and talk so we can point our behavior in the direction our soul and our country wants to go. 

The American Dream is still possible for everyone if we all get to work building it. 

That’s all for tonight! Thank you for joining and I’ll see you next week on Rebranding America.