Unless you've been living under a rock for a while, you know that the Republican party is going through a major identity crisis.
I don't need to provide a lot of links or quotes on that. We've all heard time and again how the Rep's are trying to "re-brand" themselves, how they're looking for a new "message", a new leader...
In other words, they're lost.
So what does that have to do with us here on DKos? A HELLUVA LOT!
If we're smart, that is.
We need to strike while the iron is hot.
If they can't tell the world who they are and what they stand for, then we should. We need to "brand" them before they have a chance to brand themselves.
And by branding I don't mean just the occasional pic of our Goposaur appearing here on DKos where only Kossacks get the joke, (no offense to anyone here I hope, I think that's a good start but it doesn't go far enough).
Here's the deal: The Republicans have dropped the ball, the field is wide open, and we're missing a huge opportunity to score- and not just for one election, but for generations to come- if we don't take it and run with it.
Since this is not the kind of thing that can be accomplished in one diary or even one day, I am proposing a step-by-step process, starting with:
STEP #1- BRANDING
Message- Develop our own branding campaign for the Republican party. Who are the Republicans? What's their message? What do they stand for?
STEP #2- IMPLEMENTATION
Action Plan- Once the branding / message is agreed upon, we need to develop a strategic action plan to get the message out. (I.E.- a marketing campaign).
Some suggested actions for the implementation stage:
1. Slogans- We need some good one-liners that sum up the GOP in a nutshell. (Think t-shirts, bumper stickers lines). They need to be catchy, understandable to all- no inside jokes or things that only political junkies would get, and they need to send a clear message.
And nothing below the belt- that will do us more harm than good. We want to send a strong message but without being appearing to be intentionally hurtful or distasteful.
*Once we get some winners we'll create specific plans for getting them out to as wide an audience as possible. A couple things to think about for now:
2. Viral- We need material that has the potential to go viral. Material that is funny, fresh and original usually works best. People generally prefer to pass on funny things rather than "heavy" stuff. Any creative minds out there have some ideas?
3. Outlets- Where will we take the message and how? The message needs to get out beyond the progressive community, otherwise we're just preaching to the choir. What outlets will we use?
4. Teamwork- There is no way that I can do this alone. Assuming that there are enough people out there willing to be a part of this project, I'd like to propose that we choose a time to have a weekly brainstorming session here on DKos. I can post a diary once a week at the agreed upon time and we can discuss ideas and implementation. Thoughts?
This is our chance Kossacks! They are in a position of weakness and we're not taking full advantage of that. You and I know what kind of foolishness Republicans stand for but there are young people today in areas all over the country who only know what they're being fed by their parents and their community.
The time to reach out to them is NOW.
PS- This is just a rough plan to get us started. We can fine-tune it as we go along.
So whaddya say? Are you in?
I know this sounds like a lot of work but if we all pitch in a little bit it will be much easier than it sounds. We have a lot of great minds on here with experience in all different fields.
I myself have years of marketing and sales experience but I'll need help if we really want to do this on a big scale.
I welcome any and all ideas or suggestions.
I'll be reading all the comments and looking for volunteers as well.
Note: If you volunteer to be a part of this project please suggest a day / time that you think will work best for everyone.