How Republicans Can Win With Millennials – Bonnie Siegel

Between now and the year 2020, the Millennial generation is set to make up the largest bloc of voting age adults in America’s history. In spite of that, according to our next guest, it’s a generation that Democrats aren’t adequately deploying and Republicans are largely ignoring.

If you ask most political operatives what the biggest unknown, or threat, is in the next decade, they’ll tell you that it’s demographic shifts. Both parties have historically been so bad at communicating with minorities, whether generational or racial, that the shifts coming in the years ahead rightly concern them…but not much positive action seems to be coming out of this concern. In this episode, we’re talking about how to fix that.

Before we introduce our guest, I want to say thank you to Campaign Sidekick for supporting this podcast. In the years I’ve been involved with this product, I’ve seen it grow from a small shop that few people knew about to a professional powerhouse. It’s one of 6 data and technology vendors approved by the Republican National Committee and is being used by everything from statewide campaigns to precinct chairs. Visit campaignsidekick.vote to find out how their best-in-breed voter contact platform can revolutionize your campaign and help you win!

This week we’re having Bonnie Siegel back on the podcast to talk about the Millennial Problem and how Republicans can win with Millennials. Bonnie first joined us on Episode 36, talking about her background in corporate branding and how she did groundbreaking political branding work on Ted Cruz’s Presidential campaign.

Before bringing her principles of branding into the political space, Bonnie spent more than a decade designing and executing some of the most successful brand campaigns in the corporate arena. When Senator Ted Cruz decided to run for President in 2016, he knew he’d need some outside-the-box strategies in order to be competitive in the wide field and bringing Bonnie into the campaign was a key part of that calculus.

Since the end of Cruz’s Presidential campaign, Bonnie launched Political Branding Associates and has been advising conservative campaigns and initiatives on how to build and maintain their brand. I’ve seen her work up close on a number of occasions and have been incredibly impressed. I’m sure you will be too!

What You’ll Learn about Bonnie Siegel and Winning with Millenials In This Episode:

[00:00] Podcast Introduction and Bonnie Siegel Introduction

[02:47] Bonnie’s background and how she got into politics

[06:37] Key facets of an effective brand

[10:05] Problems with both party’s current outreach to Millennials

[14:07] It takes a different vocabulary to communicate effectively with Millennials  

[18:30] How to approach the Republican branding problem with Millennials

[24:15] What do Republican campaigns need to start doing differently in order to engage Millennials?

[36:03] Once we identify areas of agreement with Millennials, how do we communicate the broader implications of that policy agreement?

[45:02] How do we avoid the “New Coke” or IHOP vs IHOb problem while tweaking the Republican brand to appeal to Millennials?

[52:55] How do we guard against the attack that we’re selling out as we change our language to better communicate with Millennials?

[59:36] What’s at stake if we don’t attract Millennials to the Republican Party?

[1:01:05] Final thoughts on How Republicans can win with Millennials

[1:02:33] Where you can find Bonnie Siegel and Political Branding Associates online

Links from the Podcast:

Connect with Bonnie Siegel on Twitter, Facebook. and LinkedIn. Learn more about Bonnie at www.medium.com and Political Branding Associates.

Recent Blogs from Bonnie regarding How Republicans Can Win With Millennials:

1. How to Fix the Republican Party’s Millenial Problem
2. Millennials: Democrats are Not Harnessing Them and Republicans are Ignoring Them