Au revoir, ciao, slán, auf wiedersehen…

He's in the driving seat now...

​So Britain has made its decision. And it’s one we’ll all have to live with for a long time. But from a communications point of view, why did Out win?
 
It seems to me that Johnson, Farage and the other Little Englanders did four things right.

• They offered a simple, positive promise: time and time again, they promised that voting leave would mean ‘taking back control’. For voters who see themselves as having lost out to others, the opportunity to re-empower themselves is very seductive.

• They spoke with conviction: the Remain side had no real champions who spoke passionately and with conviction about the EU. Figures were trotted out – but no one painted a picture of how much a force for good the EEC and the EU have been for 60 years.

• They appealed to emotion: when it’s time to make a big decision, the heart is more persuasive than the head. Vague and emotive statements about ‘freedom’ turn out to be far more convincing than the dire warnings of Nobel-prize winning economists.

• They traded on myth rather than reality: the Blitz, Churchill and Spitfires were all pressed into service to paint a picture of the plucky nation that succeeds against the odds. The realities of British history aren’t quite so simple – but yet again Mark Twain’s advice not to let the facts get in the way of a good story held true.

 
Ultimately, talk is cheap and actions speak far louder. In the years to come, we'll all have to live with what the Brexiters’ words really mean.

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