‘Get Brexit done’: the three words uttered by ordinary people that spelled messaging gold
There are some slogans that just work. Not only do they appeal to the public, but they frame the question in a way that the public is already thinking and talking. They tell voters that politicians understand them – and that they share their priorities. These slogans are more than just a distillation of important policies, or a catchy form of words. They are golden keys which unlock voters’ interest and loyalty.
The only way to obtain these golden keys is through focus groups, and this week’s Tory victory is a reminder that these sometimes-maligned gatherings of members of the public in dowdy function suites, or suburban front rooms, are still one of the most effective weapons in any campaign armoury. There is a misperception that testing slogans – “messaging” in the jargon – is a matter of reading out a shortlist and then seeing the reaction. Actually, the better way to do it is to always be on receive rather than transmit. The secret is to listen. What are the words that move other people in the room? What is the phrase that pops up time and time again?
When they talk among themselves, what do they say? What is capable of actually changing opinion?
This is certainly why Dominic Cummings has always spent so much time on focus group research. Before coming back into government he regularly toured the country, with his ears pinned back and his mind open. Like all the best political strategists, he wanted to see the public as they actually were, not how he wanted them to be.
“Get Brexit done” is perhaps the greatest example of a golden slogan in my lifetime – greater even than “take back control”. It had such huge potency and such wide appeal that it can only have come out of the mouth of an ordinary person, probably sitting in someone’s front room, or a midmarket hotel suite, somewhere like Nuneaton or Warrington.
Ordinary voters – who don’t obsess about politics and probably don’t know the name of more than half a dozen sitting MPs – always sum up political debate better than those of us that do this for a living. I say they usually do, because while the
Conservatives clearly listened hard to focus group research, Labour all but ignored theirs. It’s easy to see this from just a glance at the manifestos. The Conservatives promised to “get Brexit done” and at least made some movement to addressing voters’ concerns on crime, a subject which comes up time and time again in any focus group anywhere in the country.
Labour’s manifesto read like it had been produced by their most out-oftouch activists on Twitter. I don’t know who conducted Labour’s focus groups. But they either didn’t listen to the people who spoke in them, or – far more likely – the people in Labour HQ chose to ignore what the professionals told them. Time and time again, the public told us that they didn’t believe Labour’s offers of taxpayer-funded largesse. But most importantly, the public told us that they despised Jeremy Corbyn with a rare passion. As a working-class young woman in
‘The public didn’t believe Labour’s offers. They despised Jeremy Corbyn with a rare passion’
Dudley told us, “He’s more for students than he is for working people.” Another huge political error that would have been caught by proper focus group research is the Lib Dems pushing “revoke” rather than a second referendum. It was rejected by as many Remainers as Leavers – appalled that the verdict of the first referendum could be wiped away.
While many people in politics have come to obsess about big data, informed by new forms of economic modelling, the truth is that polling is only as good as the questions asked – and therefore as good as the person who designed the questionnaire. If people are asked whether they like the idea of free broadband or cheaper trains, they might say yes. But the beauty of focus group research is that it lets you ask the follow-up question: “Do you think that a Labour government could and actually should provide it?”
In the end, electoral politics is about winning. And that means getting the public on your side. To do so it’s vital to listen, and to listen honestly. A large part of the Tories’ success on Thursday is because they were willing to do this. And that’s what democracy is about.