Does Arnie Think Your Bogus Idea Brand Sucks?
"Net Zero is bogus"
So says Arnold Schwarzenegger. Widely quoted from his annual Vienna climate conference.
Which irks him greatly, as he is an avid campaigner for it. Here's his thinking, as read in London's Times broadsheet;
“Go to a town like Leeds or Manchester and ask people, what’s net zero? They don’t know what the f--- that means.”
Which also feels apt, as you suspect response in those Northern English heartlands (I've lived in both) would be colourful yet disobliging remarks on the painful immiseration the concept currently unnecessarily wreaks upon them.
He promotes what he considers a better label;
"terminate pollution".
The paper's entertaining rabble rousing 'chief interviewer', Decca Aitkenhead described him as "a world expert in condensing politics into catchphrases".
He continues his dismantling of the present rhetoric;
“It’s all bogus. Because that’s not the argument. The argument is, how do we go and terminate pollution? It’s not fighting about net zero or, oh, how many percentage points have you rolled it back from the 1990 level. What’s 1990 to do with anything? It’s just a stupid dialogue. Let’s just start rolling back the pollution output by 25 per cent. And that’s exactly what we did in California.”
His issue is not the work, of which he claims he's "fond". It's that of those involved, "their communication skills really suck".
From his viewpoint, it appears a classic case of mantra killing message.
A trap by which many a bid can be captured.
Having such label as 'net zero' in our pitching could well work. Provided that everyone concerned is clear on what it represents. But it feels unequivocal that 'terminate pollution' is by far a superior branding. As there can be little doubt as to what it entails.
Here also similar in construction to a 'commander's intent'.
This could well be a test to apply to how we talk about what we offer to our prospects.
Are we all too-clever-by-half, net zeroing? Or are we no-nonsense unambiguously, terminating pollution?
Let's avoid "stupid dialogue" of our own.