A Kamala Harris meme cannot sell the American dream - but maybe ‘Freedom’ can

Her team embraced the viral “coconut tree” soundbite and transformed “Kamala HQ” to look and feel like Charli XCX’s BRAT album. This move successfully connected with younger, “chronically online” voters and injected a sense of vitality into her campaign. But although strategic, it is also inherently temporary.

The real question is: Can Harris stay ahead of the ephemeral nature of meme culture to instill her political values and speak to all of America?

Memes are fleeting.

Social media is a great tool for hyper-relevance, but it is only one part of brand engagement.

A lot of voters still want brands — and political campaigns — to communicate in more traditional ways, watching the morning news rather than scrolling their TikTok feed. For a political campaign, just like with businesses, developing a strong brand can be one of the most influential factors of success.

Harris’s campaign seems to understand this and has now turned their attention to answering a big question: What story will Harris’ campaign use to bring to life the power of what she represents for America’s future? Or, in brand language, what will be their brand idea?

This week, with the launch of her first campaign video, they gave us their answer: ‘Freedom.’ This brand idea is acting as a true platform, and it has all the qualities we use to evaluate successful brand ideas: It is authentic, distinct, adaptable, and compelling.

It is authentic. Freedom feels true to Harris’ brand because it embodies her past experiences as a vice-president, US senator, and – most notably – attorney general. In those positions, she has shown a commitment to protecting people’s freedom through justice and equality efforts, supporting voter access, LGBTQ+ rights, and Medicare for All. By focusing on Freedom, Harris can also continue to hit a key talking point for her campaign thus far: the narrative of prosecutor (Harris) versus convicted felon (Trump).

It is distinct. As a Black and South Asian American woman under 60, Harris’ brand encompasses breaking the mold of traditional presidential candidates. She is not your parent’s president – and she doesn’t want to be. To support Freedom, her team has also leveraged a slogan, ‘We are not going back,’ acting in direct opposition to Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again.’ While Trump speaks about the glory of America’s past, Harris turns forward to what we could be. This optimism is distinct to her brand expression and felt most deeply through her messaging and her voice.

It is adaptable. Freedom allows her to speak to different important values of her campaign and key political issues she seeks to champion. From economic policies (“The freedom to not just get by but get ahead.”) to gun regulations (“The freedom to be safe from gun violence.”) to women’s rights (“The freedom to make decisions about your own body.”), the idea gives her the ability to speak about the vision for her future of America.

It is compelling. Defined in her own words as “the promise of America,” Freedom is rooted in a deeply American value that goes back to the birth of our country. Freedom is about unity and progress, a commitment to building a better future for all Americans. It is something we can all believe in and something that helps frame the important issues Harris wants to focus on in her campaign. Right now, her brand idea Freedom is driving excitement with her core, shown by an increase in enthusiasm with Democrats since Harris became the nominee.

All this said Harris’s campaign is only weeks old. It is still early days. The true strength of Freedom will be in how it inspires great execution for the brand: How will Harris’ team continue to bring it to life across her entire campaign in new and engaging ways? Her long-term success will depend on building brand assets that do not just highlight her relatability (ie continuing to meet the expectations set by the campaign’s meme-fluency) but also showcase her experience, her credibility, and her vision for the future.

Continue the conversation with Natalie here.