2 serious branding mistakes made by Pakatan Harapan, from an advertising guru

by Tan Sri Vincent Lee

There’s a saying: the one who does you bad may not be a devil and the one who takes away bad may not be an angel.

Globally, politics is now a breeding ground for extremist worldviews. With social media overtaking traditional campaigning, politicians hide from real issues by stirring and manipulating emotions of the masses to gain votes while doing nothing beneficial. In fact, they are destroying nations by divisive fear-mongering. It makes you wonder who the real traitors are.

Closer home, politicians use short videos to spread half-truths and harness mass support. People have been dumbed down systematically over decades: thus content in short videos, both entertaining and easy to digest without relying critical thinking has made politicians (and social media platform owners like us) realize the influential power of the current platforms for content consumption.

Sadly, long-form analytical news, however well-written, is all but dead. TikTok is leading the content trend and has become the weapon of choice of the green wave.

PH needs to be careful: the clock is ticking against the unity government. Tick-tock-tick-tock, with the help of TikTok! The consistent onslaught of single-minded opposition messages is convincing large parts of the rakyat to play victim so politicians can be their saviour, defending race and religion from a pseudo enemy. This false narrative is deepening divisions between communities and races. Receiving short videos, we believe what we see because we “think” with our emotions. Algorithms make it worse, repeatedly serving similar content, trapping people in a delusional echo-chamber, rendering them open to manipulation.

The gap between rural and urban voters, between some of those able to see the bigger picture and those who only see via the lens of race and religion, is where power is shifting.

Personally, I feel PH made two crucial mistakes in recent state elections. These mistakes have strengthened the green wave.

One communication mistake is the consistent focus on corruption wherever Prime Minister Anwar went, and the other is emphasis on the MADANI concept.

Tackling corruption is good, don’t get me wrong. But the problem comes from being seen as not “truthful”. It’s seen to be lip service when standing next to Anwar is Zahid, a deputy PM he appointed, who faces multiple corruption charges. Coupled with that is an ally, Guan Eng, who has corruption charges against him that PN exploited. It’s understandable Prime Minister Anwar needed BN and by extension, Zahid. The mistake is to repeatedly communicate what voters see as a double-standard narrative that they can’t digest. In advertising , the best policy, ironically, is honesty and so Anwar risks being seen as having “double standards” even though his intentions are noble.

Now, my point on MADANI.

MADANI, the Bahasa acronym for SCRIPT, stands for sustainability, care and compassion, respect, innovation, prosperity, and trust. It’s a great concept and I respect it greatly. Malaysia needs MADANI to achieve its potential. The problem: the benefits of MADANI are not understood or visible. Neither urban nor rural folks get MADANI.

A promise, or what we call a brand-narrative in advertising, must evoke emotion. It must be simple enough to hit hearts, not minds. Although manipulative and unethical, this explains why PN is so effective: their campaigns are emotive, using race and religion cards.

I am not advocating copying PN. I believe it’s bad for a multi-racial country to be torn apart by appeals to specific races.

In team sport, unity is key to winning. It’s the same for a country.

The fundamental rule of communication has always been ‘KISS’ – keep it simple, stupid. One simple message, told consistently, can influence hearts and minds effectively. Complicated messages never move voters’ heartstrings. Multiple promises confuse audiences. Trust me. We have clients who want to cram a million things into their ads and no consumer gets what they want to say.

I humbly suggest PM Anwar should break down MADANI one promise at a time. Communicate a message that is emotionally felt. Most importantly, by sheer simplicity and relevance, give people something wonderful to talk about. Make it easy for them to spread ‘word of mouth’ via short videos.

The full promise of MADANI needs countrywide participation and will take generations to achieve. It’s a good statesman’s promise and Anwar is a good statesman in the making. But MADANI will not drive instant results. For that, we need a message that evokes emotions and creates hope.

Our Prime Minister’s earlier war cry in his opposition days was good – Reformasi! It’s easily understood. People can feel the urgency. People can participate.

Of course he can’t use it now when leading government. I have a humble suggestion. Since it’s a unity government now, why not use this to the fullest?

Malaysia- Unity For Prosperity!

Tan Sri Vincent Lee is the founder of Foetus International, founder of the Putra Brand Awards, and Life President of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents of Malaysia (4As). He’s also Cilisos’s founder and major shareholder.