There has been much consternation in and around Westminister about the return of the “Orange man”. No MPs aren’t about to be Tango’d in another stunt for the Britvic brand but rather Tony Blair was back on the political scene.

As someone who has been asked to comment on Brand Blair for the BBC a couple of times, I thought I might venture an opinion on the reaction his speech generated, a marketing opinion though rather than a political one.

The two most obvious things to say from a branding  point of view are that the speech generated a lot of coverage and comment, and that the comments were very polarised – which is in fact exactly what you might have predicted for a strong values-led brand.

The strongest brands not only have great awareness and generate strong emotional responses and those responses are unlikely to universally positive.

Manchester United evokes strong passions – millions fanatically follow them, millions of others sing “Stand up if you hate Man U”.  Microsoft is huge but talk to Apple users and they will tell you another story. Tesco dominates the UK retail scene but it has a growing number of detractors – and of course Marmite famously celebrates the fact that is a love it or hate it brand.

So the fact that Tony Blair’s speech got so much coverage and that coverage was mixed just goes to prove that Brand Blair remains one of the strongest brands in British politics.

It was announced yesterday that Airfix is set for a return under the stewardship of its new owner, Hornby. The target audiences for the new range of products are adult enthusiasts (with models priced over £100) and a new generation of children (with its pocket money starter kits priced at £6.99). Of the two, it will be relatively easy to re-engage with the adult target although it may be somewhat more of a challenge to capture the hearts and minds of today’s children.

However Hornby should be encouraged by the fact that there are clear indicators of a resurgence of interest in traditional childhood values witnessed by the success of the book ‘Fifty Dangerous Things (you should let your children do)’. Additionally, it is the more traditional toy brands and products that are faring well in the recession, no doubt reflecting the nostalgic comfort value for parents and grand parents.

Kids are spoilt for choice with regards to leisure options and interactive media/gaming is often their pursuit of choice when they have any down time. However this preference is due to saliency, access, habit and ease of availability rather than an inherent lack of appeal of more traditional past times. Given the opportunity, children love to slide down hills on trays or build rope swings in the woods, it’s just that busy parents often do not have the time to show them the pleasures of such basic activities.

The economic pressures that families have endured in the last few years has provided more time however and has forced many to explore cheaper ways to keep the children entertained, and in so doing has caused many to re-calibrate their life values and priorities. Hopefully these attitudes will be maintained as we come out of the recession and if so, Airfix may well be successful in recruiting its new generation of model makers.

• ‘Much wisdom often goes with fewer words’ (Sophocles)
• ‘Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after’ (Anon)
• ‘Be sincere; be brief; be seated.’ (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
• ‘Communication is the real work of leadership’ (Nitin Nohria)
• ‘Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind’ (Rudyard Kipling)

Borrowed with pride from all over the place.