I copied these 5 Rules for Successful Brands from a wonderful post at Gigacom http://gigaom.com/2007/10/26/5-simple-rules-of-branding/ The writer is Carleen Hawn

The rules are from John Quelch. Mr. Quelch is a non-executive director of WPP Group plc, the world’s second largest marketing services company, and of Pepsi Bottling Group. He served previously as a director of Reebok International. He writes an excellent blog on branding for Harvard Business Publishing.

Hawn’s article was originally posted on October 26, 2007. Quelch poses a clean, concise list of 5 major rules for branding that I have chosen to apply to the 2008 presidential Democrat ticket, specifically with the idea as some are advocating that an Obama/Clinton ticket is a smart choice.

Senator Obama, here is a perspective of what Clinton does for your brand.

Quelch’s 5 Rules for Successful (global) Brands: Quelch’s rules are numbered, my Obama/Clinton commentary for each rule follow.

1. The same positioning worldwide. (For F|R: this means in every market.) This provides a combination of functional product quality and innovation with emotional appeal. Think Coca-Cola.

For Obama this means selecting Clinton after her harsh words and the guaranteed soundbites that will be used in ads during the general election campaign are likely to undermine your position.

2. A focus on a single product category. Think Nokia and Intel.

For Obama this means you lose your Obama product category and take on a second product line, not good and will lead to product confusion. No one ever voted for the bottom of the ticket and don’t let them convince you it is going to start now.

3. The company name is the brand name. All marketing dollars are concentrated on that one brand. Think GE and IBM. (F|R: Hewlett-Packard learned this the hard way!)

For Obama this means diluting his message and potentially having an under current of a Co-presidency. That’s not a good idea for a strong brand. Yup, it might not be diplomatic, but when it comes to Presidential candidates, it’s either my way or the highway.

4. Access to the (global) village. Consuming the brand equals membership in a global club. Think IBM’s “solutions for a small planet.” (F|R says: replace “global club” with social network.)

For Obama this means you get a warm and comfortable feeling in Denver. That’s nice, but it is a dream if you think it will last. This dream ticket does not live in a vacuum. You are not in high school and you can’t break up and still be friends. This is called leadership and with it, there are leaders and followers, period. Oh and speaking of a global village how does Clinton reconcile the whole lunch with Ahmadinejād thing. Nope, Obama it’s your world view, stick with it.

5. Social responsibility. Consumers expect global brands to lead on corporate social responsibility, leveraging their technology to solve the world’s problems. Think Nestle and clean water. (Or F|R might say: think Google.)

For Obama this means you should expect Clinton to step aside at this time, not concede for opportunistic reasons. Clinton must understand that it is in the Obama brand’s best interest for a clean break, not take the approach of, “I won’t make this messy if I get what I want? Brands are better when they are clearly defined, even with the potential rough edge he may create if Obama does not choose Clinton as VP. In fact, I’d argue that decisive an edge will serve the Obama brand better in the long run.

A personal note here, this blog discusses marketing, communications, and social media issues. I try very hard not to express political views here. I use politics as an illustration of social media, messaging, and brands. However, I do not want to give the impression that I support Barack Obama. I do admire how his campaign has defined him and seek only to comment about him from a communications perspective.

On the Republican side, I believe John McCain’s brand is rich in leadership. An example would be a candidate for the republican nomination that is not afraid to have Joe Lieberman, officially listed as an Independent Democrat, at his side during his primary campaign. This, however, is a story for another time.