The US Presidential race could seriously damage your brand, claims new Election 2020 report from Zignal Labs

Zignal Labs has released a new report - ‘Election 2020: Brands on the Ballot’ - exploring how brands can leverage data-driven analytics throughout the US election cycle.

While the next US Presidential Election in November 2020 is still over a year away, the election cycle has already kicked off with the first debates between Democratic candidates. Zignal Labs argues that, with political conversations pushing a host of new issues on to the media agenda every day, brands must navigate the threats and harness the opportunities that election season inevitably creates.

Josh Ginsberg, CEO of Zignal Labs told The Social Intelligence Lab: “The information in the new report is designed to help brands cut through the noise and infuse their communications strategies throughout the election with data-driven insights drawn from powerful, real-time media and data analytics.

“Many companies are already leveraging media analytics solutions to guide their communications strategies and help build and protect their brands, but when the election cycle rolls around, everything changes. Narratives, audiences and environments become increasingly unpredictable and widely amplified. A single comment from a candidate can push an issue – and, potentially, your brand – into the media spotlight. The minimum wage issue impacting Walmart and McDonalds are two recent examples of this phenomenon. On top of that, everything is sensationalized, increasing the already large capacity for misinformation.”

Ginsberg argues that by monitoring what candidates say, you can quickly – and pre-emptively – identify when an issue like minimum wage is going to blow up, allowing you to track the issue in real-time – and over time – in order to identify risk and opportunity points and know immediately if your brand is brought into the conversation.

He said: “Whether you find your brand pulled directly into an election-driven conversation or need to react to a change in one of your brand’s key issues, you must be able to answer the key question: What’s going on in the election – and how does it impact my brand?”

‘Election 2020: Brands on the Ballot’ is available to download for free. You can also read Zignal Lab’s analysis of the early Democratic debates here.

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