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Thursday, three days ago, I took my work up to the Boardroom so I could watch Dave (I'm just an ordinary bloke) Cameron's speech to the Conservative Party Conference – the last of the three party conferences before the general election.
Leaving political issues to one side, in marketing terms "Dave" is a fascinating character. He has, single-handedly, taken a dying brand and revived it so that it is being sought after by millions. I keep trying to work out how he has done this, since the process is not obvious.
In an analysis that should be required teaching on all marketing courses Goethe drew a distinction between the object which creates an image and the image which creates an object. Dave (I'm just an ordinary bloke) Cameron is an example of the image which creates an object. And the object has become concrete and come alive and is organising itself to run the country (probably).
In part he has "become the change he wants to see" but it must be more than that. "Dave" is obviously not an ordinary bloke, but the jibes about wealth and privilege and the Bullingdon Club just bounce off him. It seems that the public, who like an ironic joke, are ignoring the Old Etonian connection as a way of winding up the Labour government (whom they have come to despise).
Also ordinary people seem to genuinely like him. Is it possible that Mr and Mrs Cameron, in their current manifestation as "ordinary people" represent a lifestyle ideal many households aspire to? The house, the clothes, the loving family, the bicycling to work, the relaxed holidays, the tough-love talking – it's a flawless performance (if you packaged this lifestyle and dropped it into the Ideal Home Exhibition the queues for the showhome would be enormous).
And there is an additional quality I struggle to define. It is more than just charisma. Whenever "Dave" appears it is as if The Temper Trap are playing Sweet Disposition just below the human audible frequency range.
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