What is a political brand? Me vs ChatGPT

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the impact on content writers of ChatGPT, a prototype artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI.

I was recently asked, prior to the launch of ChatGPT, to explain the concept of a political brand. This is the exact sort of question that ChatGPT would be able to answer.

In future, instead of taking the trouble to research and write something myself, should I just use ChatGPT? Would readers notice or value the difference?

The difference between someone who proclaims to be a human expert on the topic and the AI is, according to ChatGPT:

“The difference between a human written answer and an answer generated by a language model like ChatGPT is the level of intelligence and understanding of the topic at hand. A human writer has their own understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as the ability to reason and think critically about a given topic. In contrast, a language model like ChatGPT is a machine learning system that has been trained on a large dataset of text, and can generate answers based on that training, but does not have the same level of understanding or intelligence as a human.”

I think that’s a pretty good summary. See if you agree… here’s my answer and ChatGPT’s answer to the same question.

What is a political brand? By Benedict Pringle

Political brands are made up of a collection of values, ideas, associations, feelings and emotions that come together to make up a coherent identity.

A successful political brand logically groups together policy with political personality in order to make the candidate, cause or party distinctive and memorable.

Political candidate brands live in the minds of voters. They are mental shortcuts that allow people to quickly distinguish between candidates.

It’s unlikely any two people have the exact same perception of a given political brand. And people’s perception of political brands are in constant flux.

A political brand is not made up of just the policies they represent. Or the personality of a leader or candidate. Or the logo or slogan. 

A political brand is made up in the mind of a voter via every interaction that a voter has ever had with the candidate or their wider campaign.

One of the all time great thinkers on the nature of brands, Jeremy Bullmore, once wrote that “people build brands as birds build nests, from scraps and straws we chance upon.”

People build brands. Not candidates or campaign managers.

If you see someone driving a car dangerously that has a candidate’s sticker adhered to its bumper, is that going to make you think better or worse about the candidate in question?

Pete Buttegieg when running in the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary published a “rules of the road” for his supporters to try and stop any metaphorical bad driving whilst on the campaign trail.

The behaviour of other candidates, the words of journalists and unfolding events are others that can impact the perception of a candidate’s brand, all of which can be totally out of the control of a campaign.

A candidate perceived as caring and empathetic at a time when people need support, who is on course for victory, can immediately morph into being seen as too weak by an unexpected act of terror that makes voters seek security.

The job of a political marketer is to attempt to make the brand living in the mind of the voter as electorally potent as possible.

What is a political brand? By ChatGPT

A political brand is a unique set of associations and values that are associated with a political party, political leader, or political ideology. It is the way that a political entity presents itself to the public, and it can include things like the party’s logo, slogans, and key messages. A political brand is intended to help voters easily identify the party and its positions, and to differentiate it from other political entities. The goal of a political brand is to create a positive association in the minds of voters, and to help the party win elections.