If you like marketing and you like US presidential politics, keep an eye on Democratic candidate Andrew Yang.

Yang’s big idea is a universal basic income.

But Yang isn’t calling it a universal basic income. Why not? It’s all because of marketing.

After testing his policy with focus groups, Yang discovered that it polled more strongly when he called it by a different name.

Labels can be a powerful form of marketing. That’s why supporters of a public health system call it ‘universal healthcare’ (which sounds enticing) and opponents call it ‘socialised medicine’ (which sounds scary). 

By changing your marketing, you can change the way people perceive your product.