Cory Bernardi has called his party the Australian Conservatives. But is that name really going to have much appeal to the public?
Senator Cory Bernardi left the Liberal Party a while ago to form his own party called the Australian Conservatives. Given the current loony left tendencies of the Liberal Party it is not hard to appreciate his motivation. However, is the name Australian Conservatives really a big vote winner?
How popular is the term conservative in Australia? And what do Australians think when they hear it?
It is not uncommon to hear people in the political echo chamber use the term conservative. Politicians use it and political commentators use it. But how many people outside the political echo chamber use it?
Who calls themself a conservative in Australia? It is not a common term in normal Australia. I seldom, if ever, hear normal people refer to themselves as conservative.
The use of the term conservative in recent years seems to have been imported by the members of the political echo chamber. The British have a Conservative Party and Americans use the term. And it may be that the members of the echo chamber have copied the word from their British and American colleagues.
But will it sell here?
It will appeal to some people but will its appeal be too narrow? With a name like that, there is the danger that it may only ever appeal to a limited segment of the population.
And will it appeal to young people? It does not sound very young.
Conservative may be a term that describes Cory Bernardi’s own ideology. But that does not necessarily mean it is a good word from a marketing view point.
And it is very hard to be successful at politics without being successful at marketing.
Cory Bernardi seems to talk more sense than most politicians, so what he is saying can potentially have broad appeal. So, the marketing that goes along with it should at least create the opportunity for broad appeal.
As I discuss in my book Rebranding the Political Right, the entire political right needs to substantially improve its marketing. Conservatives, libertarians or whatever you want to call yourself, all need to think more about how to market.
The left is pretty good at marketing. The right is not. It’s time the right got better.
Michael J. Thompson
