Out with the Old, In with the New: The GOP Gets a Bold New Brand Reboot as the “Grand Opportunity Party”

The new GOP is here and with your help, it’s here to stay. The GOP – the “Grand Old Party” - for better or worse, has been typically associated with and older, homogenous generation of conservatives who are out of touch with today’s younger generation and values. This reputation is fueling what’s wrong with today’s Republican Party. I propose a movement to unify the conservative party and bring revolutionary change with a newly rebooted GOP, as the Grand Opportunity Party^TM. I believe this is urgently needed if the GOP is to remain a viable force in American politics, win future elections, and avoid becoming a permanent minority party. I’ve formulated a powerful new strategy for the GOP, with updated messaging, branding, and a party platform built for the 21^st Century electorate that Millennials and the other generations can all support.

As a brand marketer, I have often been challenged to produce branding solutions and updates for a given product or company. Any change to a brand requires balancing the heritage of the original brand with the desire to update its image to attract a new generation of customers. In respect to the new rebranding of the GOP as the Grand Opportunity Party, the challenge is similar. While no one wants to try to produce a New Coke^® (a rebranding effort that failed terribly), there have been many other examples of successful re-branding that have worked spectacularly. Old Spice^® has done an excellent job of re-branding in recent years. Their image is very different than the original brand positioning from years ago, and it is very successful. The long-term survival of many organizations is dependent on their ability to update their products, messaging, and branding to make themselves relevant to new and evolving audiences – or, in this case, new portions of the electorate.

How does this relate to the GOP brand reboot? Some in the industry have called the 2010 Old Spice brand reboot “the perfect branding campaign”. It took an old brand dating back to 1937, featuring an outdated whistling sailor, and turned the brand’s longevity into strength to attract younger customers by combining its experience and masculinity in an assertive, straightforward and edgy way with a young, confident actor.  It went from “your grandfather’s cologne” to the leading deodorant for men, having successfully built new market shares with a younger audience. The new Star Trek^® movie series reboot from director JJ Abrams also took on the challenge of updating the 50-year-old TV series and movie franchise very successfully, keeping the roots and philosophy of the original while refreshing Star Trek for a younger, tech-savvy audience.

If we can give the Grand Old Party (GOP) a similar new brand and messaging update, perhaps a Grand Opportunity Party can be the revolutionary vehicle for conservatives to usher in a new era of freedom and prosperity that will attract younger generations for decades to come. As a marketer, the word “old” in the GOP brand name is highly problematic from the start, with our absolute need to attract Millennials and future generations of young voters[1]. While the word “grand” also feels a bit outdated, removing and replacing the word “grand” would be reaching outside the “zone of credibility” with the Republican base, in my estimation, as would changing the acronym of the GOP itself to something entirely different.

Like Old Spice and Star Trek, the GOP is faced with the challenge of shifting and crafting its brand and message to attract a changing electorate, while maintaining the rich history, values and roots dating back to 1856. We need to strike a balance of outreach to an evolving audience, while retaining the core values of the party. Conservatives are similarly challenged with being considered our “grandfather’s party” by many, and especially by Millennials - and progressives who currently dominate the news media and the culture. Liberal commentators go so far as to call the GOP the party of “angry old white men”.

I firmly believe we desperately need to shift course and adopt a bold new brand reboot now, and I believe that we ARE the Party of Opportunity (whereas, the Democrat Party can be more accurately labeled the “Party of Government Dependency” or the “Party of Authoritarian Government Power”). As stated in the preamble of the 2012 GOP platform:

“The pursuit of opportunity has defined America from our very beginning. This is a land of opportunity. The American Dream is a dream of equal opportunity for all. And the Republican Party is the party of opportunity.”[2]

The Grand Opportunity Party -The revolutionary new face of the GOP - and the

 American Conservative movement.

The logo brand for the Grand Opportunity Party that I created is shown below. The font style is dynamic, bold and current, reflecting our new refreshed style. While the Republican elephant logo may be red, white and blue (as is the Democrat donkey), the primary identifying GOP party color is changed from all red to a red, white and blue colored theme. The prominent and larger blue “O” communicates the primacy of “Opportunity” for all, while the star reflects a symbol of American heritage and strength, reminiscent of the old style US Air Force logo (called the Roundel and also referred to as the National). The font style of the letters closely resembles the font used by the GOP as shown on the GOP.com website (www.gop.com), maintaining a clear familiarity and brand consistency for the Republican Party.

This brand and message reboot,= represents all demographics and generations, and the new GOP logo and name change reflects this ideal.

With my strong passion for the conservative party, I am promoting my marketing strategy through my book and new media project, Cues for Conservatives. This book reflects my ideas and thoughts on how to market the young generation to get them on board with the Republican Party. It is a party that has great economic values that is healthy for the country and one that many can agree with. If it is done correctly, this approach can help inform Millennials the benefits of today’s new conservative party. They are the future and it is important for them to be informed on the conservative values.

If you are passionate about the American people and want the best party to be rebranded so it may connect with more people of all backgrounds, please consider supporting my efforts through my Indiegogo.com crowdfunding page. Together we can start a new conservative movement.

Campaign Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cues-for-conservatives-book-multimedia-campaign#/story

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[1] http://www.people-press.org/2015/04/07/a-deep-dive-into-party-affiliation/ aspects of tform and eligious texts, teachings, publications and mosques.  Anti-sharia Muslims only practice these recal eful co

[2] https://gop.com/platform/preamble/

Acknowledging a Pro-Islam Presidency

Should conservatives’ sanity or patriotism be questioned if they believe President Obama is too sympathetic to Islam?  Certainly our nation is one that prizes religious liberty, but just because an American can chose a faith does not mean that faith should be praised or prioritized over others—especially when that faith is so frequently used as an excuse to kill Americans.

President Obama has clearly chosen sides to protect the image of Islam as a supposed “religion of peace” over articulating an agenda to protect Americans from radical Islam.

On January 8, 2016, after the terrorist ambush and attempted murder of Philadelphia police officer Jesse Hartnett by suspected gunman Edward Archer, Democrat Mayor Jim Kenney insisted that Islam had nothing to with the shooting and instead suggested that we instead need more gun control.   This is in spite of the fact that Archer, a Muslim, confessed to having carried out that attack “in the name of Islam” and that Archer “pledged his allegiance to ISIS.”  When  Fox News host Megyn Kelly asked about the latest Islamic attack on American soil, the White House had two words to say, according to Kelly: “No comment.”  Providing such cover for radical Islamists is standard practice for radical progressive Democrats like President Obama and Mayor Kenney.

Another good example occurred just hours after the savage terror attack by a devout Muslim in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which took the lives of five American military men. President Obama tweeted this important message: 

“From my family to yours, Eid Mubarak!” — @POTUS

I understand that politicians often tweet religious greetings for all sorts of faiths, but this tweet went out two hours before even acknowledging the murders of our decorated Marines.

When he finally got to a statement, he described the murders as a “heartbreaking circumstance.” A “heartbreaking circumstance,” not an Islamic terrorist attack.

In this written statement, Obama also made sure to remind “…every American of respecting those of all faiths and beliefs”.  Of course, the faith he is clearly talking about here is Islam, as he wags his finger at us to demand we show reverence.  To President Obama and his communications team, celebrating the Muslim holiday of Ramadan–and reminding us to respect the religion of Islam–was a far greater priority than the terror attack that killed five Marines, whose killer had shown clear inspiration from Islam’s teachings on his blog. 

In this case, and others like the Fort Hood terror attack which the administration called “workplace violence,” President Obama refused to call out radicals who use Islam to justify murder.

Beyond just refusing to call these extremists, look at the holiday President Obama was celebrating. Progressives forget to tell us that the Ramadan’s spirit of giving and “aiding those in need” referenced in Obama’s statement means only giving zakat (charity) to Muslims in need. Unlike Christianity that supports basic human rights and gives charity to people regardless of their beliefs, it is against the religion of Islam to give charity to non-Muslims, which Islamic law forbids.  

Imagine the firestorm of progressive attacks on the Catholic Church–one of the world’s leading charities–if it decided to give only to Catholics in need and no one else? President Obama vigorously defends and respects an ideology that only supports its own members at the expense of others, and that violates basic human rights around the globe.

Then there’s the Iran nuclear deal that Obama pushed through at the U.N. that will inevitably give Iran the nuclear bomb within the next decade, further destabilizes the region, and threatens Israel and our allies.

Iran is the world’s #1 state sponsor of terror. History shows that the Iranians cannot be trusted to hold up their end of the bargain, and will immediately start using the hundreds of billions of dollars in sanction relief to fund more deadly violence against Americans, the West, and Israel. Even the Obama Administration admits these facts.

Again, President Obama chose sides: a lopsided nuclear agreement clearly favoring the genocidal, radical Islamic Republic of Iran over American and Israeli lives.

This trend makes more sense when you look at President Obama’s closest aid and chief advisor, Iranian-born progressive Valerie Jarrett. It was widely reported that she was the advisor that resisted all efforts to take out Usama Bin Laden months after his location was known. She has also been the point person in charge of inviting over a dozen radical Muslims – many with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood - to the White House.

President Obama was an ardent supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood taking power in Egypt in 2011; this is an organization the openly violates human rights on a massive scale and promotes the death penalty for the “crimes” of apostasy, critics of Islam, victims of rape and gays.

From supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, to the Iran Deal, to refusing to call the latest Islamic-inspired attack in Philadelphia an act of terrorism, to calling the terror attack on Fort Hood “workplace violence”, to honoring Ramadan before denouncing the murder of our Marines in Chattanooga, President Obama has proven himself to be the most pro-Islam president in history.

Whether or not people think that this will have a profoundly negative impact on our nation’s security and future—certainly I do—my hope is that conservatives are allowed to start a conversation about President Obama’s actions without being labeled “racist”, “Islamophobic” or crazy. This pro-Islam trend from the Obama Administration cannot be ignored, or we will pay the heavy price of the potential consequences.

What's your opinion?  Do you think Obama's pro-Islam agenda threatens our nation's security? Interested to hear your comments.