How many Trumpet of Patriots text messages did you get in the lead up to the 2025 Australian Federal Election? I got several, to be honest I just ignored. But this isn’t just about that, after seeing them run their campaign and then the results on Australian Federal Election night 2025, I couldn’t help but wonder, is there a cautionary lesson for marketers in how they handled their communication blitz? Let me make it clear, this isn’t a political article. This is my opinion about how the communications for Trumpet of Patriots panned out.
We keep seeing it more and more every day. Digital marketing has morphed from being a valuable set of tools into some kind of cargo cult for people who don’t understand marketing strategy or who are convinced it will always provide definite fast results because everyone is on social media and is a digital content consumer on their smartphones. Just whack out some Facebook ads, fire off a few million unsolicited text messages, put your candidate’s face on a YouTube pre-roll ad and voilà—Prime Minister by Sunday. That to me looked like the logic behind Trumpet of Patriots communications strategy in the 2025 Australian Election, was it?
Spoiler: it didn’t work.
Despite reportedly spending $60 million, this freshly minted political party, complete with a MAGA-inspired name and more digital noise than a TikTok influencer convention, secured precisely nothing. Not one seat. Not one meaningful return.
To me, this has become a textbook case in confusing digital tactics for marketing strategy.
Digital is a Delivery Mechanism, Not a Strategy
This is what I think people keep getting wrong. Digital is not strategy. It is a channel. A medium. A mechanism for execution. It’s no different to a billboard or a door knock, only faster, cheaper, and easier to abuse.
Strategy is what sits above that. It’s the thinking. The discipline. The act of making choices, who you’re targeting, what you’re promising, how you’ll succeed. Once you get your strategy in place, pick the right tactics and if your strategy is good, chances are your tactics will be successful. You don’t start with “let’s send an SMS to everyone in Australia.” You start with “who are we, what do we stand for, and why should anyone care?”
I think, taking a step back and thinking about the digital ads that bombarded me online, in socials and Youtube, not to mention all those SMS messages Trumpet of Patriots skipped all that and dove straight into the tactical end of the pool. It is easy to do, and be too over eager and jump right into a Meta Ads or GoogleAds dashboard. Reminds me when I was a kid and tried to build my first ever Lego model without following the instructions. The building was a structural failure, much like marketing campaigns without a strategy when you get too eager and jump in.
The Clanging Noise of a Lost Campaign
This wasn’t a campaign. I’d say there was a lot of digital mixed messaging.
Millions of Australians received unsolicited text messages…and unsurprisingly, people were annoyed. Not engaged. Not converted. Just irritated.
And what did the campaign team do in response to the backlash? They doubled down. More messages. More ads. More noise. Until finally, with the votes counted and the results damning, the party’s leader Suellen Wrightson locked her social media accounts the next day.
What the Campaign Budget (apparently up to $60 Million) Didn’t Buy
For all the money spent, here’s what the campaign didn’t deliver:
No clear brand positioning
What does Trumpet of Patriots even mean? What are they promising? How are they different?
No consistent messaging
The campaign flipped between populist rage, nationalistic fervour, and local community vibes…it didn’t seem coherent or consistent.
No segmentation
Mass SMS messages to the entire population with no tailoring, no targeting, and no opt-out.
No respect for the voter
Voters are not passive recipients of slogans. They are smart. Be market centric, put yourself in the target consumers shoes.
If You Want to Win, Start With the Basics
Let this be a lesson. You can’t buy your way into hearts and minds with digital media alone. Impressions don’t vote and reach is not resonance. Now, Trumpet of Patriots did more, they printed flyers, signs and had people on the ground at polling stations and more. But I think it was the comms strategy that didn’t mean these tactics could be effective.
So what makes a successful marketing communication strategy?
That’s a much bigger question, more than I have time for this Sunday evening after the election. But, if you want results in marketing and communications you need to do the hard work first. That means:
Segmenting your audience
Figure out who you’re talking to, not just how to yell louder.
Positioning your brand
What do you stand for that others don’t? Why should anyone care?
Crafting a message
One message. Consistent. Clear. Memorable.
Choosing the right tactics
Don’t jump straight to tactics thinking they are the magic bullet. Once the strategy is set, then, and only then, decide where to spend. Digital might be part of the mix. It might not.
But when you start with tactics instead of strategy, you end up with a marketing budget disaster.
Final Note: The Trumpet Fell Flat
There’s an irony in the name. Trumpet of Patriots. Loud, brash, and desperately blowing hot air in all directions, hoping someone would hear something meaningful. But with no tune, no rhythm, and no message, it was never going to be anything more than noise.
The real tragedy? It didn’t have to be this way. With a proper strategy, a clearly defined audience, and a genuine value proposition, even a fringe party could’ve carved out a niche.
But strategy takes effort. It takes discipline. And it takes marketers who know what they’re doing. Instead, we got slogans, spam, and silence. A loud trumpet with nothing to say.
