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This post was going to be titled, “Why Obama’s Going to Win.” But, alas, it’s been a crazy week and I never had a chance to flush this out like I wanted. Since the election is over and I’m dying, the post is going to stay half-assed. Deal with it.
First, let’s make it really clear: I’m not pro any candidate. As a marketer, I’ve loved watching each campaign’s advertising efforts. For the non-political people out there (and I’m sure there’s a lot), their votes were based off of the advertising campaigns or friends’ opinions vs. taking the time to read the facts. So, whomever had the better advertising campaign was gonna win. Let’s check ’em out…
Keep in mind this is all based on the advertising I’ve seen. Yep, totally biased post.
When 46% of Americans are using the internet, email or cell phone to get news about the campaign, whether you want to or not, it’s a place you have to be. I really applaud both candidates efforts in social media / next gen advertising, although I think Obama did a more well rounded job. Here’s a couple:
Reality check: ALL social media is still niche. While I don’t advocate TV commercials for my employer, they’re definitely necessary for things like an Election. At the end of the day, this is the way to reach the masses.
I wish I could find the psych study that compared people’s conscious and unconscious reactions to these ads. Basically, the participants consciously had negative feelings about Obama after seeing McCain’s attack ads. But, subconsciously they had greater negative feelings about McCain. Classic example of the ego vs. the id. We all know “who” typically wins those fights.
Last but not least, there’s branding. While it may be lame, Obama did a fantastic job branding everything with that red, white and blue pepsi-like “logo“. McCain’s logo? Ummm, a general star? Whatever you want to call it, Obama’s freaking logo was EVERYWHERE. The logo was even on posters that didn’t advertise Obama directly, just that people should “Go Vote.” That’s a strong unconscious message that apparently worked. According to Google Insights, the chatter about Obama far outweighed the chatter about Biden, McCain and Palin.
Maybe four years from now people will make educated votes instead of following the masses. Until then, start ramping up those ad campaigns.
Good writing. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed my Google News Reader..
Matt Hanson
Great Post. I have to agree, Obama’s camp did a much better job at using Social Media.
Thanks for posting the article, was certainly a great read!
Nice site. Theres some good information on here. Ill be checking back regularly.
Great Blog post. I am going to bookmark and read more often. I love the Blog template if you need any assistance customizing it let me know!
@Matt @Jamie – thanks!
@Tim – when you spend 3 times as much as the other candidate there’s lots of fun advertise things you can do
[…] And yes, as much as it will pain me and all of us, this example will be used ad nauseum in the months to come just like the Obama campaign. […]