Will you let Tony Abbott rebrand?

3/12/09: 'Will you let Tony Abbott rebrand?'-  I won’t go into politics. It’s been a well covered debacle.

But after meeting Tony Abbott at a lunch today, I am interested - from a branding perspective - if you will allow the new leader to ‘change his spots’ and rebrand.

Will you give him the space to recover from the gaffes of the past?

He said in his acceptance speech, “I accept that at times I have stuffed up. I probably should, I suppose, apologise for all my errors of the past and make a clean breast of it and ask the public to judge me from this point.”

Twitter was predominantly negative – and the press highly sceptical.

But is a request for a new start fair enough - do we as moral good citizens forgive, shake hands, smile and move on?

Or is Abbott steadfastly labeled from all his past comments and all the gaffes - budgied forever?

Will you give his personal brand a chance to re-group and emerge as a strong credible leader?

I’m interested in how much we as the taxpaying, voting public will allow someone to wipe the slate clean – even with the past on record for all to see.

And yes, the week unfolded with infighting and sudden change of camps - soap opera enough – but take a look at the other global players. Sarkozy springs to mind as one example of a change of leadership brand.

How will Tony Abbott's personal brand fare after this week, I wonder.

Abbotts' public statements have been much about wanting to undo a lot of the past.

For example (and without going into an in-depth discussion on the pros and cons of religion or Catholics here) Abbott said he would not allow his views as a Catholic to influence his leadership.

Is this possible? And is this so bad? If you’re a Catholic, then surely you are a Catholic everywhere – in business, at home, in politics?

From peer group opinion and personally meeting Tony Abbott, and hearing him speak, he comes across as clever, intellectually bright and well educated - he calls a spade a spade. However his personal brand is divisive - just like Vegemite – you either love it or hate it. Looking at history, there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground in how he is perceived.

And this isn’t about permission to change your mind. After all, topics as huge as climate change are evolving as we speak and education is key to opinion forming.

The personal brand issue is how you link your core values to it. For example, suddenly backing or not backing a leader? Or voting for, or against, ETS? Or being smart and seizing opportunities when they arise.

So is it feasible or even possible to successfully change your brand, especially overnight?

One source this week said we would be prepared to forgive Abbotts misdemeanors and give him a fair go.

So do we forget his past strong opinions and let him re-calibrate an opinion - now he is leader of the Opposition?

I’m fascinated that we can vote someone in and then watch them change tack like a forward in a rugby game.

Abbot has always been happy to take a strong stand on conservative topics, climate change, industrial relations, abortion and the republic.

This week, we saw Abbott furiously backpedal from the time he called climate change ''crap - it was a bit of hyperbole''.

Funny that! For the record, Abbott said he thought climate change was real. ''And I think that man does make a contribution. There is an argument as to how great that contribution is.''

The reality is that Abbot only has to survive one Newspoll before the end of the year, and then there will be a break from the fortnightly hammering delivered to an opposition leader.

After that he can work with personal branding experts to his heart’s content.

If I were his advisor – he’d be fully booked! Messaging workshops, presentation skills, delivery training. Tony – Taurus is here for you!

And before I go just a mention of an interesting side bar – Julie Bishop – a rare female in a man’s world.

A supposed light weight is now the survivor. Who has had the last laugh?

She has been the deputy to all three. I might take a closer look at her personal brand.

Meanwhile, the voters and history - and me with my specific interest in personal brands - are watching.

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