BC United rebrand went 'spectacularly,' said Kevin Falcon. Yes, this was sarcasm
BC United Leader Kevin Falcon couldn't resist sarcasm when asked on Tuesday how his party's rebranding from its long-standing identity as the British Columbia Liberals was going.
"Spectacularly," he said with a wry laugh, before adding "obviously, I think it could have gone way better."
In hindsight, even this was an understatement.
About 24 hours later, Falcon was standing behind a B.C. Conservative Party podium to announce his decision to end BC United's election campaign, withdraw its candidates' nominations, and urge voters to instead support the Conservatives in the Oct. 19 provincial ballot.
As BC United candidates and staff pondered their futures, strategists and communications experts pointed to last year's ill-fated rebranding exercise, championed by Falcon, as a harbinger of the party's implosion. Falcon also failed to capture a rightwards shift in political sentiment, they said, and instead it was John Rustad's Conservatives who did so.
To make matters worse, the rebranding coincided with the soaring popularity of the B.C. Conservatives, who are not affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada.
Campaign strategist Allie Blades, who worked on the BC United rebrand for the Mash Strategy digital political consulting agency, blamed Falcon for the exercise's failure.
Earlier this month, BC United said internal polling suggested up to 30 per cent of people in B.C. were unaware the party changed names in April 2023.
"He just didn't listen," said Blades about Falcon's approach to the rebrand effort. "He had a committee of people responsible for the name change. Didn't listen to them. I'm sure that those staff and caucus people we've seen move over to the Conservatives made that decision partly because they weren't listened to either."
She said the rebrand failed because the party did not connect its new name and look to a message about what BC United stood for.
"You can design a great logo," said Blades. "You can put out some ads, but it didn't answer the problem which the party had, which was, what do they stand for and where are they on the political spectrum."
Under former premiers Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell, B.C. residents knew the brand of the B.C. Liberals, as the party of free enterprise and prosperity.
"But this was a missed opportunity for BC United to brand themselves in what they stood for and what their values are," said Blades.
Falcon made the party's rebranding and name change a key promise during his campaign for the B.C. Liberal leadership, and the party said 80 per cent of members supported the name change to BC United.
Blades said many older party members, including conservative former caucus members, believed the B.C. Liberal name confused and turned off voters who did not support the federal Liberals.
The former B.C. Liberals were not affiliated with any federal party, but the pressure to change names persisted, she said.
After Falcon became leader in February 2022, the party started to lose momentum in part because he did not reach out to his younger leadership opponents, including Val Litwin and Gavin Dew, who is now a Conservative candidate, Blades said.
"We were politically soulless for a while," she said.
Prof. David Black, a political communications expert at Greater Victoria's Royal Roads University, said the failure of the BC United rebrand was "puzzling" because other name changes in Saskatchewan and Alberta have worked.
The former Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties in Alberta merged in 2017 to become the United Conservative Party, while the Progressive Conservatives in Saskatchewan emerged as the Saskatchewan Party in the 1990s after a major scandal, he said.
Black said while people suggest the BC United rebrand was poorly funded, badly communicated and poorly managed by Falcon, consideration should also be given to the shifting political environment in B.C.
"What is different from the other rebrands mentioned above is that public sentiment on the centre-right was shifting already in early 2023 and a more right-leaning and more populist B.C. voter was looking for an alternative," he said.
"John Rustad became leader of that alternative."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'It’s a dream come true': Holt, Liberal cabinet sworn-in to office
Susan Holt, the province's first female premier, and 18 cabinet ministers took the oath of office in the chamber of the legislative assembly.
Alberta Premier Smith gets 91 per cent support in leadership review
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith received a dominating 91.5 per cent vote of support from her United Conservative Party members in a scheduled leadership review vote on Saturday.
Live from New York: Harris making surprise 'Saturday Night Live' appearance with election looming
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris has made an unannounced trip to New York to appear on an episode of 'Saturday Night Live,' briefly stepping away from the battleground states she’s been campaigning in with just three days to go before the election.
Multiple RTDNA wins for CTV News, including 2 for W5
CTV News won four national news awards and a local news award from RTDNA Canada, the organization announced Saturday night at a gala event in Toronto.
2 people charged in Toronto incident that left police horse and officer injured were out on bail, police say
The driver of a pickup truck who allegedly struck a police horse and rammed several cruisers on Queen Street West on Friday afternoon was out on bail at the time of the incident, Toronto police say.
Here's what you can buy for $729,000 in 8 Ottawa neighbourhoods
CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at what you can buy for the average Ottawa home price of $729,000 in eight Ottawa neighbourhoods.
Calgary police issue warning after receiving over 150 calls relating to personal fireworks
Calgary police issued a media statement Saturday reminding residents about the rules regarding personal fireworks after receiving over 150 complaints.
Florida's convicted killer clown released from prison for the murder of her husband's then-wife
A woman who pleaded guilty to dressing as a clown and in 1990 murdering the wife of a man she later married was released from prison on Saturday.
Vancouver quietly proclaimed Chip Wilson Day as billionaire installed sign calling B.C. NDP 'communist'
On the same day Chip Wilson erected a controversial sign at his Vancouver mansion, the city was quietly honouring the billionaire and his wife.