Obama's slogan seems to replace 'hope for a change'

WASHINGTON: Winning The Future. Greater Together. We Don't Quit. They may not be official but those are all phrases that could in one form or another be candidates to become President Barack Obama's re-election slogan.

Advisers say a fresh slogan to replace the winning "Change we can believe in" mantra of 2008, is unlikely to appear before Obama knows who his Republican opponent will be and starts big campaign travel swings, likely in the spring or summer.

His campaign posters now say simply, "Obama 2012."

But Obama's surrogates have road tested some slogans in recent months, including "Winning The Future," which the White House used to promote its budget, and "Greater Together," which the campaign has used to brand its youth outreach effort.

A new tagline will have to reflect a new reality. Obama is no longer a Washington outsider, unemployment is falling but still high, and economic insecurity for many voters is a huge concern that a simple slogan cannot overcome.

Obama is aware of that difficulty. He still refers to his old slogan at campaign fundraisers, emphasizing the "change" he has achieved, while dropping lines that could be test runs for a pitch to convince voters to give him another term.

"When you think about change that we can believe in, as hard as these last three years have been, don't underestimate the changes we've made," Obama said at a fundraiser in California this week.

"Inspiration is wonderful, nice speeches are wonderful, pretty posters that's great.

But what's required at the end of the day to create the kind of country we want is stick-to-it-ness. It's determination. It's saying, 'We don't quit.'"

In his State of the Union address last month, the president also played up the issue of economic fairness, which branding experts said could encapsulate his 2012 pitch.

"Owning 'fairness' is a powerful idea, but getting that idea communicated in a clear, sticky way is very hard," said Allen Adamson, managing director of marketing firm Landor Associates.

"Telling that story is more difficult than telling a 'change' story because you have to define fairness for who and what's unfair, and why is fairness important. Change was a brutally simple idea."

After three years of governing fulfilling some promises and breaking others the word "change" is a tricky brand for the president to espouse.

But Obama's advisers say his philosophies are still the same, even if the words associated with them from 2008 are not part of this year's campaign tagline.

"This election is also about hope and about change. That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be in the slogan," said David Axelrod, Obama's message guru and senior campaign strategist.

"But the president has a very hopeful, optimistic view about this country, even with all the challenges we have, and is working toward that."

Copyright Reuters, 2012