In every competitive space, business, sports, politics, the instinct to outdo the opponent is strong. But in marketing, that instinct can be fatal if it becomes obsessive. The brutal truth is this: focus too much on the competition, and you will lose your product.
Political marketing, especially in Ghana, is dangerously guilty of this strategic misstep. Our campaigns are often more obsessed with destroying opponents than with building brands, more focused on discrediting rivals than on delivering a compelling value proposition to voters. The result is a political marketplace full of noise, bitterness, and cynicism with very little trust in the actual product: leadership.
Let’s break it down.
The Brand is the Product, Not the Opponent
In politics, the “product” is your candidate, your message, your vision, your track record, and your proposed solutions. If 80 percent of your communication is targeted at attacking your rival, then you are not marketing a product. You are performing public relations for your opponent. You are keeping them relevant. You are reintroducing them to voters on your own budget.
It is astounding how many campaign teams spend millions crafting insults, digging up dirt, and amplifying weaknesses in others, yet spend so little time clarifying what their own candidate stands for. A product you do not position will not sell. And if voters cannot tell what your party offers beyond noise, they will either not show up to vote or will go with the devil they know.
People Buy Benefit, Not Bitterness
Every brand, whether political or commercial, lives or dies by its relevance to the user’s life. Voters are customers. They want to know what’s in it for me. Will I get reliable healthcare? Jobs? Security? Better schools? Hope?
You cannot insult a voter into loyalty. You cannot abuse an opponent into irrelevance. At some point, you must sell a product, not an insult. Ghana’s political communication is often barren of product benefit. And even when promises are made, they are drowned in bile, sarcasm, and defensive posturing.
Coca-Cola Doesn’t Obsess Over Pepsi
There’s a reason world-class brands focus on their message and not the competitor’s. Coca-Cola doesn’t run ads saying Pepsi is weak. Instead, it says “Open Happiness.” Nike doesn’t tell you Adidas has lost its way. It simply says “Just Do It.” They focus on emotion, aspiration, and relevance to the customer. Smart political marketers must do the same.
It is okay to draw contrast. But contrast is not combat. And obsession with your opponent is not persuasion. It is insecurity disguised as strategy.
The Consequence of Missing the Point
In Ghana, what do we have to show for the intense political competition? Certainly not a half-a-trillion-dollar GDP. Not beautiful cities. Not smart infrastructure. Not Dubai-style communities. With all the mudslinging, our streets are still dark, our gutters open, our schools under-resourced, and our national ambition painfully underwhelming. Open defecation persists. Cattle still drink from the same water sources as rural communities. Politicians still chase black SUVs and envelopes while voters are fed propaganda.
It is because we have been busy focusing on the competition and forgetting the product.
The Way Forward
Political branding must evolve. It must become voter-centric, message-driven, and product-anchored. We must build emotional connection, not emotional fatigue. We must stop selling fear and start selling hope. If your entire political campaign strategy revolves around proving your opponent is worse, you have already admitted you have no real product of your own.
Great political marketing does not scream louder. It connects deeper. And it focuses more on the value it offers than the weakness it wants to expose.
Let your product be strong enough to stand on its own. Let your message be clear enough to inspire belief. Let your campaign be bold enough to rise above pettiness.
Because the truth is simple: if you keep focusing on the competition, you will lose your product.
And Ghana will lose too.