Brand is not solely about spin. The only way to truly lose control of your brand is from the inside-out.

Spin is important of course. But it’s nowhere near as important as what you do.

Brand is a combination of the promises you make and the promises you keep. You are what you do. That's it. If you behave incompetently, your brand will eventually be one of incompetence. If you keep your promises, your brand will be one of trust. 2/

The Liberal Party lost control of its brand because it stopped behaving in line with its professed values and became known for what it actually did.

In some areas – such as perceptions on gender issues, climate change, and equality – it enacted its brand rather thoroughly. That brand just happens to be completely at odds with the values held by most Australian women, and Gen Xers, Millennials and Zoomers who now collectively form bulk of electorate. They simply rejected the brand on masse. 3/

That the Liberal Party report focuses almost exclusively on blaming ‘left wing’ spin and the fierceness of the ALP and Teal campaigns, misses the fact that the Liberal Party did this to themselves.

You can’t get spun as incompetent if you display competence. You can’t get spun as sexist if you display fairness and equality. You can’t get spun as scandal prone if you display strict adherence to the rule of law. 4/

The Liberal Party report gives the sense that they think that a lot of this comes down to appearances and spin, rather than substance.

That if only they'd done the PR better and gotten their messaging right, they could have won the last election. Messaging is important but only if you can back it up.

The Liberal Party did this to themselves. That they still don’t get this will only be to their further detriment. END/