As the 2020 presidential race heats up, candidates need to find ways to make a splash and stand out from a crowded field. Adweek spoke with branding and marketing experts about what each of the White House contenders has said so far with their logos, websites, slogans and music choices.
Overall, the candidates have played it safe, experts told Adweek.
“None of them jump at me,” said Ilan Geva, a branding expert. If they want to make a serious run at the presidency, they’ll need to do a better job of catching people’s eye. “You are a brand among brands; do something that marketers do,” Geva said. “Make yourself different—in message, in appearance, in logos, in colors. Appeal to me.”
The candidates also need to use language that appeals to the widest possible swath of Americans but that’s specific enough to energize voters and encourage them to head to the polls.
“When I look at past election cycles, there was usually a lot more bravado earlier on, and people had bigger ambitions,” said John Paolini, partner and executive creative director at Sullivan. “This is a very tentative group of people.”
To read more about the messaging behind each candidate, click on their picture below. This post will be updated to reflect the race as it narrows and November 2020 approaches. We’ll continue to cover this election cycle and you can read our full coverage at: https://www.adweek.com/category/politics/.
Donald Trump (R)
Politics aside, many can agree on one thing about President Trump: He knows how to brand himself. His self-proclaimed empire, which included an international hotel chain, several book deals and reality TV appearances, was the experience he touted to voters during the 2016 presidential election. But his promise to “make America great again” paved his way to the White House. Like any great brand, Trump kept the slogan short, catchy and easy to fit on merch—and include in his tweets. He’s using a similar tactic heading into his reelection campaign in 2020.
Trump is still banking on the brand that won him the White House in 2016—with a slight tweak. For 2020, Trump is running on “keeping” America great, rather than “making” the country great. The campaign did not immediately return requests for comment.
This choice “makes sense,” said Mark McNeilly, a professor of marketing at the University of North Carolina, in an email. “It positions him as having delivered on his 2016 promise of ‘making America great,’” he said, adding that Trump can point to what his base would see as evidence, like his oft-stated claim that the economy is improving or his moves of putting conservative judges on the bench.
The sentiment rang true for other experts as well. “The way I understand it, an effective brand is the fulfillment of a promise,” said Cliff Sloan, CEO of the creative marketing agency Phil&Co who cited Apple’s “Think Different” or Miller Lite’s “Tastes Great, Less Filling.”
When Trump says “keep,” Sloan said, “it implies that we’ve accomplished what we’ve set out to do. He’s declaring success, which is, itself, extremely Trumpian, and very on-brand for him.”
“Keep” in the slogan also reads as a call to action, Sloan said. “To me, that means ‘defend the grounds we’ve gained. Don’t take victory for granted,’” he said. “It’s like a call to action that can say, ‘Make sure you go out and vote,’ [and] it can also mean, ‘Spread the word; go out into your community.’”
In a way, Trump has fewer obstacles than the slew of Democrats running because he already has an established brand that resonated with voters. Not to mention, McNeilly said, the slightly tweaked slogan “still fits on a red hat.”
Like his slogan, Trump’s campaign logo for the 2020 race is a simple, straightforward call to action featuring the words “Trump,” “Pence,” “2020” and the requisite slogan all in blocky, easy-to-read font. “It’s simple and clean, which to me, in 2020, is the way to go,” Sloan said. “It’s versatile, it’s media-agnostic, it’s easy to remember and it’s perfect for the kind of ADD culture that we live in now.”
Being media-agnostic is key for every brand—political or otherwise—in 2019. Per eMarketer, this is the first year that time spent staring at mobile screens will outpace time spent watching television, and that trend is only predicted to snake upward. Having a logo that reads just as easily on an iPhone screen as it does on a laptop, T-shirt or billboard can have a serious impact. Meanwhile, McNeilly said, it has the requisite red, white and blue—sure to appeal to his uberpatriotic base.
But is it successful? “Brand identity is important, but what a political brand delivers to voters is also crucial to Trump’s election prospects,” McNeilly said.
Joe Biden (D)
Joe Biden might have the name recognition that can be achieved only after serving as the nation’s vice president. But that predetermined legacy requires him to put forth even more effort into establishing a new version of himself—a brand refresh, for what he stands for and believes in. As he goes into the 2020 presidential race having served as President Obama’s second in command, he’ll have to weigh how heavily he wants to lean into the Obama legacy and defend those policies.
Biden, like all candidates, is also up against another well-known brand: Make America Great Again. Biden is one candidate that has tried to go after a logo using stars and stripes reminiscent of an American flag.
“Biden has that logo which feels like stars and stripes but sends a signal that he’s the uniter in chief, that he’s going to bring the parties together,” said John Paolini, partner and executive creative director at Sullivan.
Others think he needs to dial up the aggression, though, beyond a logo with a few stripes, if he wants to take on the man currently in the White House.
“If I was Joe today, I would say I am the only person who can fix the United States,” said Ilan Geva, a branding expert. “I am the only guy who’s been there, done that. People respect me and I am the only one who can fix the damage.”
He also has years of legislating and a relationship with voters already under his belt. “Biden is a brand that has been there for a very, very long time,” Geva said. “When Coca Cola launches a new product, they can say it’s new and improved. You cannot say a candidate is ‘new and improved.’ So, Joe Biden has a tremendous hill to climb.” The campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
This go-round, that brand “refresh” includes a logo that calls to mind a flag with the slogan “Our best days still lie ahead.”
Not everyone who spoke with Adweek thought it was a good idea.
“I think that line really sounds like something a 76-year-old would say,” said Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at the progressively-minded consultancy Wethos. “It just really sounds like they are heavily strategizing on the principle that the democratic base is not nearly as useful or liberal as it’s been. They’re not wrong if you consider who votes currently. They’re wildly wrong if you consider who could vote if we give them reasons to.”
Biden’s slogan, Triola argued, spoke to the age demographic the campaign seemed to be addressing. “For the population they’re talking to, ‘our best days lie ahead’ makes sense,” Triola said. But, what about a 30-year-old, Triola countered. “We’re all shitting ourselves. Should I buy a house? Should I have kids? What city won’t flood in 10 years?” The slogan doesn’t do enough to reach them, too, she said.
Elizabeth Warren (D)
In an ultracrowded primary, presidential hopeful and U.S. senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, has run on a campaign centered around proposals like rebuilding the middle class with generous college and childcare plans, taxing the rich and dismantling major corporations, and has been often compared to fellow competitor Bernie Sanders. Despite her similarity to the Vermont senator in terms of policy proposals, though, Warren’s campaign branding couldn’t be more different.
It all starts with a distinct mint green hue. Warren and her supporters have embraced the color on signs and apparel, which is described in Warren’s online campaign merchandise shop as “liberty green.” The color often serves as a backdrop to Warren’s logo, which features her name in an all-caps sans serif font, often in white or navy blue, above a single thick horizontal line.
The Warren campaign declined to comment.
It’s a choice that conveys a departure from the status quo and helps underscore Warren’s progressive bona fides, said Mimi Chakravorti, the executive director of strategy at the brand management consultancy Landor.
“To go into a presidential campaign and not leverage blue for Democrats or leverage red, white and blue for America—I think she is coming into it to say, we need a time for change,” Chakravorti said.
The font choice and colors, which 99designs chief operations officer Pamela Webber described as “somewhat androgynous and no-nonsense,” further help differentiate Warren’s brand from a competitor like Sanders.
“The darker, deeper blue, I think, is speaking to her pragmatism— it’s a very serious color,” Webber said. “The light green that she uses softens that.”
Of course, a logo works only when a candidate puts campaign prowess behind it. On the trail and in her messaging, Warren has come back again and again to the word “persist,” which stems from a 2017 incident in which former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cut short Warren’s speech over a procedural rule. His explanation—“Nevertheless, she persisted,” he now-infamously said —became a rallying cry for Warren and her supporters.
“There’s a lot of affinity for that type of sentiment, especially among women,” Chakravorti said of the slogan. “The fact that she was at the center of that, the genesis of that—it sends a powerful message to female voters.”
Then there’s the unofficial “Warren has a plan for that” or variations on the phrase, which harken back to Warren’s habit of releasing detailed policy proposals on everything from breaking up Big Tech to revitalizing the agriculture sector. Although the message could be appealing to some voters looking to peruse proposals, it could also be a disadvantage, said Thomas O’Guinn, a professor of marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin School of Business.
“[Warren] has a plan for everything … but there’s pluses and minuses to that,” O’Guinn said. “Sometimes the devil is in the details, and, if you give people too many details, they say, oh, I just wanted to hear the choir sing. I didn’t really want to get down in the details.”
Chakravorti, though, said the refrain helps center Warren’s multitude of proposals into one uniform statement.
“She does have a plan for a lot of things, but they’re not necessarily as pithy or easy to remember as some of the other candidates, who have created handles, easy-to-remember few words,” she said. “Warren could suffer from too many messages being out there, and ‘I’ve got a plan for that’ seems to work as an umbrella term.”
Bernie Sanders (D)
With a campaign centered on issues like implementing Medicare For All, canceling student debt and aggressively addressing the climate change crisis with a Green New Deal, presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is a favorite among young people. The 78-year-old Vermont senator is tied with former vice president Joe Biden as the most-favored presidential candidate among people 36 and under, and, at 28% popularity, ranks as the most popular choice among college students, recent polls show.
Like the candidate and his fervent supporters, the design and branding of the Sanders campaign reflects a blend of old and new.
Take Sanders’ logo, a blue serif “Bernie” with a star dotting the I, written in standard capitalization and underlined with two waving lines, one red and one blue. The logo is recycled almost exactly from Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, but with a slightly updated and brighter color palette. Many of the slogans, including “Not me. Us,” and “Feel the Bern,” are also recycled from 2016.
The choice allows Sanders’ 2020 campaign to act as an extension of the 2016 effort, building on the momentum and brand capital that the candidate built up four years ago, said Tom O’Guinn, a professor of marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin School of Business.
“Familiarity breeds trust,” O’Guinn said. “Using the same symbols, the same iconography, it’s something some top brands do. If there’s no reason to reposition, don’t reposition.”
O’Guinn, who has donated to several Democratic candidates, said that if the set of marketing signifiers worked before, there’s no need to change them dramatically and potentially lose momentum with a brand that made Sanders’ candidacy a point of passion for his supporters around the country.
“He spent a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of people getting used to him and familiar with him,” O’Guinn said. “Familiarity is not to be undervalued.”
The Sanders campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Across the Democratic primary, many candidates sidestepped the standard red and blue and chose hues and fonts that would look right at home on DTC consumer brands as well as a political campaign. Sanders’ logo, while not particularly inspired from a design standpoint, in that way stands out in the fray.
There’s other messaging at play, too. Sanders’ “Not me. Us” slogan underscores the candidate’s emphasis on building a movement, which has been reflected on the campaign trail when Sanders has touted overarching policy proposals without getting weighed down in the details. This early in the campaign, eschewing the specifics in messaging can be an asset, O’Guinn said.
“People don’t want the details yet—not right now,” he said. “They want to fall in love with you. What they want is to believe.”
Sanders’ choice to stay consistent with his 2016 brand might be a missed opportunity to attract new supporters, but a full rebrand could alienate his base, said Mimi Chakravorti, the executive director of strategy at the brand management consultancy Landor. “If you were never going to be a Bernie supporter, or if you were never going to be a Democrat, it’s sort of the same old Bernie over again,” Chakravorti said. “But brands cannot be all things to all people, so I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.”
A crucial strategy during an incredibly crowded Democratic primary is to make sure the candidates remain differentiated from competitors. On that point, Sanders has excelled, O’Guinn said.
“Bernie does a good job of differentiating himself,” O’Guinn said. “His only problem now is he has someone who is copying his brand quite a bit.”
That someone, he said, is Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. While distinct from Sanders in some of her policies, Warren nonetheless has outlined several similar progressive policy proposals, including universal child care and free college, and Warren has endorsed Sanders’ universal health care plan Medicare For All.
“In the minds of a lot of voters, they’re very similar,” O’Guinn said. “… Those two are going to have to find some more brand space between them.”
Joe Walsh (R)
Joe Walsh, a former U.S. representative from Illinois, is going up against President Trump for the Republican nomination. And he’s using familiar words to do so.
Leading with a slogan that ends in “we can’t take four more years,” is a “pretty compelling” line, said Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at the progressively minded consultancy Wethos. Couple this with the candidate’s message about being brave to go up against Trump, and “overall, Joe hired a good copywriter,” Triola said.
The campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Walsh, after his stint in Congress, went on to become a conservative talk radio host. His ability to target conservative voters on this medium could prove to be a big draw for his candidacy, which could be seen as an otherwise long shot going up against Trump.
Tulsi Gabbard (D)
Presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard wears a lot of hats. She’s an army vet. She’s a Hawaiian. She’s an avid surfer. She’s a practicing Hindu. She’s a vegetarian. It’s a grab bag of identities that are ultimately at the core of Gabbard’s brand—an old website of hers even states that falling under each of these labels makes her “the embodiment of the type of diversity which is at the very heart of what America was founded upon.”
The branding around Gabbard’s campaign, much like Gabbard herself, pulls from a slew of disparate sources, but, unlike Gabbard, those identities don’t play nicely together, experts told Adweek.
The campaign did not immediately return requests for comment.
Take, for instance, her slogan—”Lead with love.” The message seems similar to fellow 2020 Democratic candidate Marianne Williamson’s slogan, “Think. Love. Participate,” said Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at the progressively minded consultancy Wethos.
“In any other set of candidates, these messages would work really well to set Tulsi apart,” she said. But next to Williamson—whose own brand is informed by a lifestyle centered around healing, spirituality and, of course, “love”—Gabbard’s approach feels tainted.
When people think of Gabbard, Triola went on, a lot of them think of her as a combat veteran who served two tours in the Middle East. And while that might not come through in her slogan, it does come through in her web presence. Gabbard’s red, white and blue bannered website features clips upon clips of her in full gear, playing to that veteran base.
Meanwhile, Triola noted that Gabbard’s branding across social media channels is hardly consistent, sometimes using different pictures of the democratic candidate in each.
This disparity is hardly an issue for Gabbard alone.
“It speaks to the broken political marketing system, more than anything else,” Triola said. “She probably has a different comms vendor, a different social vendor, a different digital vendor for her site.”
“There’s just a lack of strategy, and a lack of consistency and oversight and cross-channel collaboration,” Triola said.
Gabbard’s campaign video, she added, feels like it was made more for TV than the digital screen and lacked the personal narrative-driven touch that potential voters are looking for in digital content—not to mention closed captioning.
“That’s Digital 101—everybody knows that,” Triola added. “But the people that are creating these media are still the media buyers that are predominantly profiting from playing TV ads.”
The linear-digital divide affects both sides of the party line, but Democrats are still two steps behind, with a recent Adweek report finding that some of the candidates are only just thinking of bridging the ad-tech market.
While her website might be stuck a decade in the past, Gabbard’s logo—which features her name in bold, black and white in a large, chunky modernist font—certainly isn’t.
“I think it stays true to who the candidate is and how they want to be perceived,” said Jay Williams, founder of the Georgia-based creative agency Stoneridge Group. “She’s from Hawaii, she’s young, she’s sophisticated—and visually, that’s what it speaks to me. If you changed the name to ‘Biden’ or someone else, it wouldn’t match.”
He noted that some of these older, male candidates have logos that are indistinguishable from “something that could be made in Microsoft word.” Gabbard’s, meanwhile, is a “typical typeface.”
“It’s not Arial; it’s not Times New Roman,” he added. “It’s just a little bit ‘off,’ without being too jarring.”
Bill Weld (R)
Bill Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts, is also going up against President Trump for the Republican nomination. His logo seems fairly standard for a candidate gunning for the White House.
With a red, white and blue logo featuring his last name and the year, the branding is common for a 2020 contender. And the site is laid back, with a slogan of “America has a choice” as well as “A better America starts here.”
The campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Weld’s name might sound familiar to those who closely watched the 2016 race. He scored the vice presidential place on the Libertarian ticket, with Gary Johnson in the presidential slot. In 2016, their collective branding, in big blocked letters and yellow coloring, was not similar to the tone Weld seems to strike for 2020.
Still yet, not everyone was impressed his branding this time around.
“‘America has a choice.’ That’s what an election is, after all!” remarked Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at the progressively minded consultancy Wethos.
Andrew Yang (D)
Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur turned presidential candidate, found a nontraditional way into the Democratic debates with a nontraditional platform to match. Yang’s candidacy is stacked with proposed policy reforms, many skewing a little left of center—like tackling the harm caused by cellphones, abolishing the penny and his flagship proposal for universal basic income.
Yang also made a splash when he vowed to give away $120,000 to 10 families at the third Democratic presidential debate.
The campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Naturally, the quirky candidate has amassed a unique following. The 2020 hopeful has been the subject of memes and music videos on every platform imaginable, courtesy of his followers, who dubbed themselves the “Yang Gang”—a hashtag-friendly name Yang has fully embraced and incorporated into his own rhetoric. He’s one of the only candidates to recognize the potential of his own internet presence, said Bruce Newman, a marketing professor at Depaul University.
“He still really hasn’t received the attention of the major television stations—the CNNs and MSNBCs—even though he’s been able to garner a position on the debate stage,” Newman said, adding that the “only choice” for a candidate in such a position is to use the people’s platform: the internet.
Newman also noted that Yang’s method for getting on stage in the first place was equally unprecedented, almost, as he put it, “gaming the system.” Newman said Yang was smart enough to realize that all he needed to get into each debate was to secure a certain number of donors, 65,000 for the first and 130,000 for the second.
“It’s not the amount of money; it’s the number of people,” Newman said, adding that Yang’s decision to ask for a relatively affordable $25 for each donation was deliberate.
Yang’s logo, which sports his name in blue topped with an Obama-esque swoosh of an American flag, didn’t win over every critic.
“Incorporating the flag is kind of cliche. Everybody does that,” said Arek Dvornechuck, who heads the Brooklyn-based creative agency Ebaqdesign. Meanwhile, Dvornechuck said, the way the flag is incorporated is “extremely awkward” and might make some people wonder if the logo is misspelled—perhaps “Iang,” with a flag flying around the first letter.
Besides, he added, some of the most successful candidates don’t even use the American flag imagery. “If you look at top candidates from last election—Trump’s identity does not incorporate [a] flag, neither [does] Hillary’s logo,” he said, adding that Yang’s slogan, “humanity first,” also doesn’t have the makings of a winning candidate.
“It doesn’t make a connection on an emotional level,” he said. “Yang’s slogan is just a simple statement that doesn’t rally people together around a common cause like Obama’s ‘Yes, we can’ or Trump’s ‘MAGA.’”
“It sounds like a charity,” Dvornechuck said.
Amy Klobuchar (D)
The senior senator from Minnesota brings a no-nonsense, midwestern attitude to her campaign. In her first 100 days, Klobuchar plans to prioritize cybersecurity, maintain the Affordable Care Act, rebuild relationships with international allies and rejoin the Paris Agreement.
That practical, approachable nature is reflected in her campaign’s logo and branding. For one thing, it’s her first name, not her last, that appears in the campaign’s logo, conveying a more casual approach. It also subtly nods to the issues she cares about like the climate. There’s a smattering of green in her logo and across her website. Even the photo of Klobuchar on the homepage features her posing in front of a tree. When users scroll down the page, they’ll see a bar at the top that will lead to another part of the site detailing her plans for climate change. All the green points to Klobuchar’s commitment to taking action, said Pamela Webber, COO of design firm 99designs.
Klobuchar’s campaign didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
“In terms of really making sure that people understand her primary issues, I think they do a nice job there,” Webber said. “She’s communicating, ‘I am a practical, approachable individual, and climate change is one of my core issues.’”
However, Webber said that some of the elements of Klobuchar’s design come off a bit cluttered. For example, she uses three different typefaces and colors in her logo, one for each word.
“It tries from a positioning of the words to bring it together, but I think it doesn’t quite do as good of a job as other campaigns do,” Webber said.
But Webber also said that for the most part, Klobuchar’s branding is “strong and clear,” even if it doesn’t have the depth she might see from other candidates. And in politics, being straightforward is an advantage.
Pete Buttigieg (D)
There hasn’t been a bigger surprise in the 2020 election so far than Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old openly gay mayor of South Bend, Ind. Everything about Buttigieg seems to be a contradiction. He’s young but already a military veteran. He’s openly gay but hails from the same home state as notoriously anti-LGBT Vice President Mike Pence. He’s a Democrat but is the mayor of a town in the middle of America. A potential boost of that dichotomy? Buttigieg has qualities that can appeal to both the Democratic base and those on the fringe, experts told Adweek.
“He is a younger, millennial candidate, he’s openly gay and supportive of a very progressive agenda,” said Pamela Webber, COO at 99designs. “On the other side, he’s a military veteran, he’s from South Bend, Ind., really an industrial, heart of America sort of place, which generally appeals to conservatives.”
Webber said Buttigieg leans on nostalgia in his branding, which helps to bring his unexpected persona to life. In particular, she pointed to the emphasis on his first name in his logo. It’s framed by a bridge-shaped box, a nod to the industrialism of in America’s heartland. “The symbolism in his logo itself is representative of a bridge in South Bend, Ind., and comes back to the heart,” Webber said. “This is this place where he is the mayor and a group of people who he leads as mayor. It’s a brilliant way to execute this.”
In other ways, however, Buttigieg’s campaign embraces a younger sensibility. Webber said the blue and yellow hues as well as the sans serif, block font, speak to Buttigieg’s fellow millennials and, in particular, millennial voters.
“He’s just this very multifaceted candidate who can appeal to a lot of different constituencies,” she said. “The brand work that he uses is just very multidimensional. From a design perspective, the depth of design is evident.”
Michael Bennet (D)
Michael Bennet has a logo that looks like something you might expect from a 2020 hopeful: “Bennet” in blue, “for America” in red. In keeping with a 2020 theme, Bennet’s website calls for unity with phrases like “building opportunity together.”
The campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Bennet’s branding is too generic, said Ilan Geva, a branding expert, and it’s too similar to other candidates vying for the White House. The messages are broad, which can be good for appealing to a wide range of voters, but Bennet never gets specific enough to appeal to a particular demographic, explained Geva.
“They don’t show any effort to differentiate themselves, not only from the top tier but among themselves,” Geva said. “It seems like their competition now is not to be POTUS, but to survive to the next round of TV debates,”
It could be “punchier,” said Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at Wethos, and the brand could take more risks.
“If your candidate isn’t already a household name, having a bit of fun with things and adopting a lighter tone could make them more memorable,” Triola said.
Cory Booker (D)
A current senator and former mayor of Newark, N.J., Cory Booker brings to the 2020 race wide-ranging experience with public service and deep connections to Silicon Valley. But, branding experts told Adweek, despite his built-in network and ability to dazzle during debates, Booker’s branding has the potential to leave prospective voters bored and confused about his message.
The logo, which shows Booker’s name with 2020, was inspired by Newark, a city central to Booker. It was created by Jennifer Kinnon and Bobby Martin of Original Champions of Design, Booker’s campaign said in a statement.
The logo is “reminiscent of the red and white stripes of the American flag,” and the design and typeface are inspired “by the storefront signage one would see on the facades and windows of small business … along the streets of Newark’s neighborhoods.”
But branding experts told Adweek the design isn’t aggressive enough to make a statement. “The logo is nice looking, the website is clean, but the message of the candidate has to jump out and drive the base, and other candidates have done a better job,” said Joe Fuld, founder of the Campaign Workshop, which provides consulting to campaigns and advocacy groups like the American Cancer Society Center and DC Vote.
Booker’s logo might look familiar, almost like competitor Congressman Tim Ryan’s logo sans the 2020.
“You kind of lose that individuality when you have the same logo as somebody else,” said Vanessa Hopkins, a graphic designer at Mother Design, who described the logo as bold and simple, but lacking creativity.
The patriotic color scheme can also be seen as a call for unity. But, once again, the tactic seemed familiar. “It looks like the Marvel studios logo,” said Sarai Nuñez, an advertising professor at the University of Miami. “They are literally plagiarizing Marvel.”
The superhero theme extended to Booker’s font, which she said looked almost like the typeface used in comic books. “As a candidate, he’s always been a social justice warrior,” Nuñez said. “What we need now is a hero, right? If that’s what they are going for, it’s effective.”
Jon White, a freelance graphic designer who’s worked for the left-leaning podcast Chapo Trap House and the People’s Policy Project, a progressive think tank, wasn’t as impressed with the emphasis on the year and Booker’s call for “togetherness for togetherness’s sake,” which White believes contrasted awkwardly with the candidate’s logo.
Hopkins agreed.
“They used so much real estate for 2020 and it doesn’t really add to the conversation,” Hopkins said. “It feels like they did it for the sake of balance here. His logo says the least about his individual style and who he is as a person.”
Experts who spoke to Adweek couldn’t pinpoint Booker’s specific slogan for 2020 after reviewing his campaign’s website. According to the campaign, Booker’s slogans are “We Will Rise” and “Justice for All.”
“’Justice for All’ sounds like the Pledge of Allegiance,” Nuñez said. “They’ve done a great job visually, but maybe the copy is not where it should be.”
As 2020 hopefuls continue to try to strike a balance between appealing to a wide demographic of voters, but specific enough to break from the crowd, Booker’s “We Will Rise” slogan doesn’t quite make it, experts said. “Who’s the we? If that includes the people who want to import Canadian drugs, well, you’re the reason we can’t,” White said.
Others were unsure why Booker has emphasized certain words on his website, such as “lines,” “divide” and “ties.”
“It’s strange they chose to bold these certain words,” Hopkins said. “It feels really negative. I wouldn’t have called out those words.”
White agrees, saying that the words in larger text are incoherent when put together. “It is semantically meaningless, but sonically it is entirely at home in any corporate HR manual,” White said.
Mark Sanford (R)
Mark Sanford, a former U.S. representative from South Carolina, is the third challenger to join the race against President Trump. His logo is fairly minimalistic, using his last name and the tagline “financial conservative.”
In his logo, he also uses four stars. “He’s not a luxury hotel. He’s only got a four-star rating,” remarked John Paolini, partner and executive creative director at Sullivan. But the stars were more symbolic, a spokesperson for the campaign said.
“The four stars of his campaign logo, represent his four sons … just as each of our children or grandchildren should inspire us to do something about Washington’s unsustainable course,” the spokesperson said.
Compared to Trump and other Republican challengers, Paolini argued, the line seemed “lazy.” “What are you going to do if you’re a financial conservative?” Paolini mused.
That so-called laziness won’t help his image, which may still be tainted among prospective voters, after he disappeared for a few days as governor of South Carolina in 2009. His aides said at the time he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but he was actually pursuing an extramarital affair in Argentina.
Tom Steyer (D)
The wealth of Tom Steyer, a former hedge fund executive and now-activist, has been a much-reported part of his presidential bid—especially in a race in which multiple candidates are bringing in big fundraising dollars with small-dollar donations.
But Steyer’s explanation of that wealth seems to have too big of a presence on his website, said Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at the progressively minded consultancy Wethos.
The campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
And with a brand that uses his first name “TOM” with the year 2020, the simplistic design could benefit from a big, bold statement about what he hopes to do once in office, she said.
Instead, his “best one-liners” are in his merch store, where he’s offering swag with phrases like “Congress, do your job” and “Climate is a crisis.”
“His team would benefit from a bold, forward-looking statement that sums up Tom’s vision for a sustainable future,” said Triola.
Steve Bullock (D)
Steve Bullock, the governor of Montana, uses a fairly simple logo to represent his brand. His last name—Bullock—is underlined with a red and blue line, with the year 2020.
The campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Advertising a slogan of “A Fair Shot for Everyone,” Bullock’s campaign repeats this language throughout his entire website. That’s a good thing for his brand messaging and having potential voters remember it, said Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at the progressively minded consultancy Wethos.
“Messages about opportunity, prosperity and fairness are typically easy to agree with. A safe, well-executed bet,” she said.
John Delaney (D)
John Delaney, a former U.S. representative from Maryland, has used his logo to focus on his last name—and, in case you forgot, “FOR PRESIDENT 2020” underneath.
Otherwise, Delaney has used his campaign’s website to play up his “blue-collar roots” and attempts to unify his audience with a slogan of “Focus on the Future.” His logo looked familiar to John Paolini, partner and executive creative director at Sullivan, who said, “John Delaney is Obama 2.0 with none of the finesse that the Obama campaign brought or any of the subtlety.”
The campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
In general, said Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at the progressively minded consultancy Wethos, the messaging works.
“John also claims he has ‘real solutions, not impossible promises’ and assures me I should ‘believe in something better,’” she said, adding that it could be construed as “a bit vague.”
Marianne Williamson (D)
Marianne Williamson, Democratic candidate, dropped out of the race Jan. 10.
Marianne Williamson has run as a lecturer and author on the trail, and her unique campaign has set her apart from other candidates vying for the White House.
“I want to have a joint her with her, honestly! She would be a lovely person to sit around with and have a smoke and just enjoy time, but I don’t see a serious chief executive officer of a country,” said Ilan Geva, a branding expert. “It’s amusing, something refreshing to see, so it’s OK.”
Her quirky candidacy has shone through, though, on the debate stage, and she managed to gain some press coverage over her performance at the second Democratic debate.
Her so-called refreshing candidacy also includes a color palette (using purple and pink) that feels like a true departure from what her challengers are using. Her website and campaign materials call for unity, surrounding topics like peace and love and phrases that call for action, like “Heal the soul of America” and “Think. Love. Participate.”
The campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
It’s similar to language that she used in her book, The Healing of America, that was released in 1997, said Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at the progressively minded consultancy Wethos.
“By doubling down on long-held principles, she’s catalyzed her existing fanbase to deliver the feeling of a movement that’s much larger and more evolved than many of her competitors’ campaigns at this stage,” Triola said.
Joe Sestak (D)
Joe Sestak, a former U.S. representative for Pennsylvania and a retired U.S. Navy officer, plays up his military experience in both his website and brand logo.
Showcasing his admiral status, Sestak uses “ADM JOE” in his brand logo, which sits on top of a globe. Below, reads his slogan, “accountability to America.”
The campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
The “ADM” might be confusing to some, said Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at the progressively minded consultancy Wethos, but otherwise playing up his military experience works. “With a long list of military accomplishments, I think it’s wise and a natural fit for Joe (another Joe?!) to build his brand on the values of service, accountability and integrity,” she added.
For others, the logo was concerning, and the message was “thinly veiled,” said John Paolini, partner and executive creative director at Sullivan. “It’s poorly drawn, poorly executed. It’s an eyeball! This is like we need to take our place back in the world and watch everyone,” he said.
Bill de Blasio (D)
New York mayor Bill de Blasio dropped out of the race on Sept. 20.
New York mayor Bill de Blasio, in his race for the Democratic primary for the 2020 election, like many others still vying for the White House, has struggled to break through the noise.
With a slogan of “Working families first,” de Blasio came into the race hoping to be remembered as a progressive candidate that stands for the working man, something that’s been an intrinsic part of his political career in New York over the past 30-plus years. But the messaging behind his slogan, seen as something to align him with his more popular, more progressive running mates, misses the mark, marketing and branding experts told Adweek.
His campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“[De Blasio] has repeatedly sought to brand himself as a leading American progressive [but] has delivered a not entirely successful attempt at delivering something contemporary with his campaign slogan and identity,” said Matt Kandela, co-founder and CEO of design and branding agency Dear Future. “The line leans into his desire to speak to inequality but does not feel inclusive or galvanizing.”
New York voters have clashed with de Blasio over his practices since he became mayor (including his decision to run for president instead of focusing on issues at home). Despite this contention, de Blasio has included imagery of himself on a subway platform.
“The MTA has the ability to induce rage that takes over one’s entire being, so it seems an odd image to pick given his failings to update the infrastructure since he became New York mayor,” Kandela said.
The 2020 hopeful has tried to reiterate that he stands for working people by using photographs of him mingling with people, over images of him standing at a podium. It’s a “compelling and emotion-evoking use of imagery,” said Pamela Webber, COO of 99designs.
The colors that de Blasio uses in his logo and on his site break away from the classic red, white and blue theme that most presidential candidates aim for and from the red theme that he had previously aligned himself with, instead opting for green and yellow.
“Perhaps [he’s] showing his party allegiance more clearly, and hinting at his support of the green new deal, cannabis legalization and other progressive causes,” Webber said, but added that the intersection of the two colors creates too much “visual tension” for a potential voter just glancing at the logo.
Alec Beckett, creative partner at Nail Communications, agreed. “His logo is awkward and imbalanced. The green and yellow highlight colors are jarring and discordant,” he told Adweek. “There is some kerning happening on the site that probably merits jail time.”
As for the music on de Blasio’s rally playlist, he leans into his passion for ska music, but, according to Audiodraft CEO Teemu Yli-Hollo, he doesn’t do it in a way that will resonate with his targeted audience and that doesn’t fully encompass his “working families” message.
His walkout song, “Rudie Can’t Fail” by The Clash, and his affinity for ska “have potential in political narrative, as ska lyrics are known for taking a stance on important issues from a people’s point of view,” Yli-Hollo said. However, the meaning behind the song is “doing things differently from your elders, [which] suggests de Blasio is appealing to the youth instead of the working people.”
Similar to the design of the campaign’s logo and slogan, the music lacks a distinct connection to the candidate and his message, and it made his image overall lack the neat and tidy appeal that some of the frontrunners have.
“In order to solidify his audio brand, de Blasio’s team could opt for even more to ska and punk rock wooing soundscapes in order to drive the image of someone willing to ‘confront the bully,’” said Yli-Hollo, adding that de Blasio could have opted for “something classic and energetic without being rebellious, such as Rush’s ‘Working Man’ or the Beatles’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’”
Tim Ryan (D)
Tim Ryan, a U.S. representative from Ohio, dropped out of the race Oct. 24.
Tim Ryan, a U.S. representative from Ohio, has a logo that looks awfully similar to challenger Cory Booker, with his name in a rectangle and using the popular patriotic colors, red, white and blue.
His website prioritizes language like “new and better.” But his merchandise—which includes phrases like “Namaste” and “Breathe”—seems out of place. Instead, Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at the progressively minded consultancy Wethos, said the phrase seemed more like a campaign for exercise app ClassPass.
“With a tee that says ‘Namaste’ and a hat that says ‘Breathe,’ I’m wondering if Tim needs my vote on ClassPass?” Triola said.
The campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Beto O’Rourke (D)
Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman from Texas, dropped out Nov. 1.
Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman from Texas who made a splash early in the primary season with his own Vanity Fair cover, has created a unique brand for his campaign. It includes a simple logo, showcasing his first name with the slogan “For America.”
Unlike competitors who prioritize red, white or blue, O’Rourke settled on a stark logo in all black. His site and campaign materials signal a call for unity, with O’Rourke using language like “It’s gonna take all of us.”
O’Rourke’s recently showcased his ability to lead when a gunman opened fire in his hometown of El Paso. He took two weeks off from his campaign and criticized Trump’s and Congress’ lack of action on gun control.
But even in a divided country, O’Rourke’s call for unity could use some fine tuning, according to experts.
“There’s a lack of consistency in how Beto is positioned across various channels and no single message that feels distinct,” said Anjelica Triola, director of marketing at the progressive-minded consultancy Wethos. “Beto’s frequent use of ‘everyone’ and ‘all of us’ imply a willingness to listen, to collaborate and to compromise—but the sentiment isn’t ownable.”
O’Rourke shines instead in his off-the-cuff marks, she said—remember his casual use of the f-bomb?—that he’s even adapted for use on his merchandise (one example: a T-shirt that reads, “This is f*cked up”).
The campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
O’Rourke’s casual way of trying to connect with a broader base feels a bit “juvenile,” said John Paolini, partner and executive creative director at Sullivan, who compared the vibe to Top Gun. “It’s really successful in standing out from the crowd,” Paolini said. “It feels really distinct, but I think it’s also a risky toolkit to be leaning into.”
Others took issue with O’Rourke’s slogan.
“We know that we have a divided country. When he says it will take ‘all of us,’ it means from being dumb to being smart,” said branding expert Ilan Geva. “What else can I say? That’s very difficult. That’s not a good line or good vision.”
Wayne Messam (D)
Wayne Messam, mayor of Miramar, Fla., dropped out of the race Nov. 20.
Wayne Messam, mayor of Miramar, Fla., a city of over 100,000 people outside of Miami, and former player for the Cincinnati Bengals, seems to have brought his competitiveness to the race.
Messam seems like a candidate who is ready for movement, said John Paolini, partner and executive creative director at Sullivan. And his brand messaging and slogan—”Are you ready to run with Wayne?”—matches that.
Messam’s crisp logo, featuring his first name and “for America” also shows that he’s ready for the next step, Paolini added. But the candidate needs to share more about his policies if he wants to be a true competitor. “You’re not just for America; you’ve got to say where you’re taking America,” Paolini said.
The Messam campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Kamala Harris (D)
Kamala Harris, the junior senator from California, dropped out of the race Dec. 3.
Kamala Harris, the junior senator from California, has postured herself as a candidate that stands for every man and woman. Running with a slogan of “For the People,” she’s also using a bold, sans serif typeface—a font that reflects a “tough, fearless” nature that her website describes, experts told Adweek.
Harris has been preparing for this campaign for a while, both during her time in the senate and as the state’s attorney general, and she’s made a central part of her messaging showing that she’s someone who is a warrior for the downtrodden, underserved or underrepresented, said Pamela Webber, COO of design firm 99designs.
The Harris campaign didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
“She is known in California for standing up for the rights of people, specifically, working people’s rights and underrepresented minorities’ rights,” she said. “And she wants to make sure, presumably, that is coming through and will help her positions and issues resonate amongst the underserved in America.”
The campaign’s use of Harris’ images on its website show an attempt to convey the candidate’s depth and versatility, Webber said. “She’s oftentimes looking to the side, or not quite looking at the camera directly, which I think is an attempt to kind of soften her a little bit,” she added.
Harris also stands out from most of her fellow Democratic candidates in two major ways—she’s a woman, and she’s black, vying for a position that’s nearly always been held by a white man. And the campaign has used subtle ways in the brand’s design to highlight those differences, Webber said.
For example, the Harris campaign has used a purple-tinted blue and a lighter red, a departure, albeit slight one, from the red and blue so often seen in campaign brand identities. They show Harris’ own spin on the classic American colors. “It’s a little bit off, but in a good way,” Webber said. “It’s distinguishing.”
Subtlety is reflected throughout Harris’ branding: Her logo, which reads Kamala Harris For the People, has a shape and color scheme that’s reminiscent of the American flag, which Webber said is “really creative in showing how Kamala Harris represents America.”
Julián Castro (D)
Julián Castro, Texas Democrat, dropped out of the race Jan. 2.
In a Democratic primary race that already has some frontrunners and others who have thrown in the towel, a number of candidates, like Texas Democratic politician Julián Castro, have made only ripples in a race that requires candidates to make continual waves.
Castro has struggled to lock away a significant portion of support from Latino groups like the House Congressional Hispanic Caucus, of which he has only two votes secured from the 38-member group. He’s also polling behind in states with large Latino populations, including his home state. This has been a continuous struggle for Castro, who has made his Latino background a large part of his campaign, particularly as the only Latino to be running—and as a candidate who has carved out a name for himself with his detailed plan to address the border crisis and immigration issues.
Castro’s campaign slogan “One nation. One destiny.” goes the patriotic yet vague route. It’s the type of slogan that sounds good on paper, but, once you give it a bit more thought, it’s actually somewhat confusing, experts told Adweek.
Castro’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
“His slogan is certainly more lofty and future-forward. It focuses on unity, which is core to his belief system,” said Matt Kandela, CEO and co-founder of design and branding agency Dear Future. “‘One Destiny’ is unclear, though. What is that destiny? If there is ‘one,’ has it been chosen for us already?”
It’s also difficult to find his slogan in any of his campaign videos or on his website, said Alec Beckett, creative partner at Nail Communications, who agreed that the slogan was too generic. “It feels big, inspiring and totally vague. It really falls short in the ‘What’s in it for me?’ test that voters ultimately care about.”
Although the slogan might have fallen flat, it’s but a bump in the road for Castro and his team. On his website, he’s created an image of himself that looks sleek, professional, modern and what one might expect from a candidate with ambitions for the White House. His website is also offered in multiple languages.
“When you dive into it, the information is very thorough, it’s architected in a digestible manner, and, if it were a human greeting you at the front door of his office, I feel like it would be very polite,” said Joe Toscano, founder of social innovation organization Beacon.
Castro also leaned into the blue imagery in his logo and design aesthetic, a “true blue, … leveraging brand Democrat,” said Rob Schwartz, CEO of TBWAChiatDay N.Y.
Castro also tends to highlight his first name, but not his last name, Schwartz said, adding, “He’s emphasizing his first name because his last name has challenges. Older voters might immediately think about Fidel Castro.”
Many of his images stay the traditional course, with photos from the campaign trail and shots of Castro at the podium delivering speeches. But those standard stock-type photos might not be best for a candidate looking to stand out from the crowd, said Pamela Webber, COO of 99designs.
“However, he does bring in some emotional connection by featuring family snapshots on his campaign homepage alongside a video sharing the story of how his grandmother came to America as an immigrant,” she said. “This adds a personal element to his story and platform and supports his campaign messaging that evokes the traditional American Dream.”
Another way that Castro points to his heritage and allows himself to stand out as the only Latino running for president is by highlighting the acute accent in his name in his logo, noted with a brighter blue color.
Castro takes an optimistic approach to the campaign music, with pop classics that would appeal across generations, such as his walkout song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by The Byrds.
“It does a good job in staying in tune with his campaign promises and mindset while addressing people from various age groups and ethnic backgrounds,” said Audiodraft CEO Teemu Yli-Hollo, adding that Castro’s music seems like he is “aware of his cultural heritage.”
However, it’s also possible that some of Castro’s music choices were a bit too obscure for his target audience and might be seen as not bold enough for what makes him most unique in this race. Ultimately, as the Latino candidate who is unable to secure the Latino Caucus vote, he could have opted for choices that really helped solidify his position.
“In a world in which Walmart recently featured Bomba Estéreo in its summer 2019 campaign, I think Castro could be bolder,” said Amy Crawford, Man Made Music’s vp, supervising producer. “Otherwise, these tracks may not carry a ton of meaning with either mobilizing young audiences or inspiring boomers.”
