When I talk to a client about what their website should do, the number one point I hit on is recognition. You want people to see your site and know what it is you are trying to sell. A big part of that comes from the name.
So if you look at this site, what do you think?
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You do get that the site is NRCC, but what does that mean? Sure, we follow politics, so we will instantly recognize NRCC as being the acronym for the National Republican Congressional Committee, but fur the majority of people out there, they have no idea. As matter of fact, the site gives a feeling that they are avoiding the word Republican, until you get to the very bottom.
Having worked in the web business for over a decade, I have worked with countless PR professionals. They know what words sell and which ones don’t. I’m sure the NRCC put money into research of this, and that is why they decided to hide the work “Republican” so hard on their new site, and that right there should tell us what Republican means in this country today – something not worth selling.
So, could this be the way in which Republicans heal after 2012?
A few weeks ago the GOP released their “autopsy” of the 2012 election. In that report a focus group used phrases such as “Scary”, “Out of Touch”, and “Stuff old Men” to describe the party. These are not phrases you want to hear when you are trying to win over a new generation of voters.
But instead of trying to redefine what the party stands for, it appears that the NRCC is just trying to disassociate themselves with the party, while maintaining the same positions that have failed the GOP in the past several years. Is this a fix? Absolutely not. Instead what we have is slight of hand.
It appears that the next few years are going to be more of the same out of the Grand OLE’ Party, with “ole'” being the keyword. They are going to try and hide from the name, but not their positions, and that won’t be enough to fool the new voters they need.
I say the NRCC needs to go back to the drawing board.