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“Towards Shaping and Communicating a Political “Brand”

I wish to thank FNF for giving me the opportunity to participate in the above training. It has been a valuable input and experience for me. It met my expectations to be exposed to the fundamentals and concept of Political Branding in politics especially when I am the Chief Information of my party.

I was fascinated with the way the seminar programme was crafted as we were introduced to the topic in a structured but subtle manner. We started off with understanding branding and the essential structure of a brand. The introduction of “The 12 Brand Archetypes” further excited the participants including me particularly when we took up a quiz to find out for our own selves which brand archetypes suits our party or organisation.

I also found that developing the brand structure helped a lot in understanding our own party’s brand. The process of developing it together with other participants from different countries and then presenting it at the Brand Marketplace further enhanced our believe of the brand structure. Living the brand and connecting it with moods and emotions were good tools to use to ensure brand coherence and lastly, to be able to manage brand in crisis is challenge that required to be understood.

Apart from that, having guest lecturers from various background, sharing or facilitating topics such as building a brand in an era of populism, how to transform a political brand effectively, local government elections in Berlin, how to manage a party brand and examples of successful brand management in politics and in non-profit sector deepen my view of the importance of branding and how it is imperative towards a political campaign success.

What makes the seminar also interesting was the inclusion of many working group discussions where the participants could interact and share different opinions. We learn about each other more and build relationships. Of course, it could be better if we were able to be exposed to each other’s country background further but due to the interests of time, the interaction time provided was still sufficient.

The excursions organised further enriched my experience. The excursion to the Landtag North Rhine-Westphalia in Dusseldorf and meeting Angela Freimuth, a member of parliament, was very interesting and eye opening. It showed political rebranding effectiveness and its relevance on the ground. We also went to the Volkswagen Museum in Wolfsburg and was exposed to the evolution of brand by Volkswagen. Quite a tremendous collection of vehicles dating way back from 1940.

The excursion to Berlin was more interesting. I was looking forward to it as it my first time in Berlin. To be able to view the changes and development in Berlin was a valuable experience and we had the opportunity to do just that while we were there.

Last but not least, my appreciation to the two key facilitators, Wulf Pabst and Marika Groenewald for their moderation and insights into the seminar. Their dedication to ensure the Seminar achieves its objectives and expectations is truly admirable. I will not hesitate to attend any other seminars that they facilitate because it was not about work but also fun and exploration. I hope to be able to share all that I have learned from the Seminar with my colleagues here in Malaysia and see its true success in the areas of strategy, messaging, branding and communication.

Thank You