The Man Behind Brexit

Brexit! There are just over two months till deadline day. The day in which Britain leaves the European Union. Brexit: The Uncivil war is a TV depiction of the buildup to the vote and is nothing less than brilliant. It follows the brain behind the Vote Leave Campaign Dominic Cummings.

“Setting up a campaign is like setting up a multimillion pound start up” - extract from Brexit: The Uncivil War.

3 business lessons that we can learn from the show:

1. Learn from the forefathers; people have done what you’re trying to do. There is a moment in the show where we see Dominic drawing inspiration from the likes of Napoleon, Otto Von Bismarck and Alexander the Great. He used these men to draw his wisdom from. These were the underdogs that made history.

2. The power of messaging. The original slogan Dominic created for the Vote Leave Campaign was “Take Control” then after a period he shifted the slogan to “Take Back Control.” Take back control played on the publics fears of a fast changing world.

“The present covers the past in gold and the past covers the present in lead.”

It made the EU seem like the cause of the public’s problems. Plus, the phonetics of the words are empowering. The pro EU campaign slogan was “Stronger in Europe” which was descriptive but also unimaginative.

3. Social Media Advertising!! The film depicted the Leave Campaign as being almost archaic in their campaigning methods. Relying on focus groups for their data. The Obama 2008 candidacy revolutionised how political campaigns operate in the digital age. The Leave Campaign built on Obama’s methods, not only did they outspend their rivals (they spent 2.7 million on targeted Facebook ads) but they also used sophisticated technology to optimise results. Facebook's ad manager is a great start to advertising on the platform however, 3rd party platforms deliver at the moment deliver much better ROI.

Yes, the Vote Leave Campaign did break electoral law. Yes, they did allow lies to spread, which I completely denounce. Nonetheless, the three points above can be used as a blueprint for a great marketing strategy.