Marketing shapes the world again: Welcome, President Obama

In the complete Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams talked about a race of people called the Golgafrinchan who lived on a doomed planet (or, in a very Douglas Adams way, not that doomed, but a story concocted to rid the planet of the least useful third of the population), and in an effort to further its people (works in either story), sent up three giant rocket ships, or the space Arks, each carrying they’re own class of people according to the work they were responsible for. Scientists, teachers, craftsmen and other more noble professions were housed together in the first two ships. The third Ark, carrying the least necessary peoples included hairdressers, telephone sanitizers, and yes, marketers.
The joke is pretty obvious. Marketing in his opinion, and perhaps rightfully so, is seen as peripheral to societies’ needs. But tomorrow morning we will see the culmination of one of the greatest marketing efforts in the modern world during the swearing in of Barack Obama.
Think what you will of his politics, but the truth is, when most people voted for President Obama, they did so because they bought into a brand. He’s likeable, sure, and he gives a mean speech, but it was the marketing over the last two years that sent him from ultimate underdog to the top office in the United States, a position which is largely decided by popular opinion.
To break down the complete success and every tactic of the campaign would be far too long to sum up in a blog, and is likely to one day evolve into a book for some enterprising writer, but here are what I believe to be key points.
First, Mr. Obama established his personality. He’s a top-notch speaker, seems to be pretty affable, forthright, and he doesn’t fit the typecast of most of Washington in that he’s young, black, and for the lack of a better word, cool. He was doing press circuits to promote his book before he launched his bid for presidency, familiarizing the nation with his face on appearances on Conan O’Brien and the like. He built an excitement around the possibility of him running before he began. The entirety of these personality traits could be summed up into a single promise that would be key to his brand: Change.
Second, when he began his bid, he targeted the disenfranchised voter populations rather than trying to compete for the mainstream. This meant the young voters, minorities, and others who didn’t fit into the classical image of a voter in the democratic party were being championed. This was risky in that if these people weren’t enough to make his bid seem legitimate, he could be shut down by the party, but they were, and as time went on, more traditional audiences became swept up in the excitement of his promise. This was only furthered by the fact that the nation was so disappointed about the current state of our nation that the single promise of change was an easy call to buy into.
Third, marketing efforts went to where the consumer was. The multilayered online aspect of the campaign was one of the first points built, making it easier for those interested to find out more. Becoming involved with Barack became more and more of a social event. People took up the campaign's seeming tagline "Yes, we can" as a personal banner, and like many effective tags, the seemingly vague statement became one of great meaning to the individual stakeholder.
Fourth, the campaign did not simply sit on the good will it was receiving, but bought into it. It asked for participation by its stakeholders, which is so essential to successful marketing efforts today, and in any means possible. Small cash donations were met with great applause, and frequently mentioned as a strong point of fundraising. Grassroots level advocates got training and talking points sent to them. It became a campaigned OWNED by the advocate, not simply endorsed by them.
Fifth, messaging was crisp. This should be expected from political campaigns to an extent, however, many politicians have been caught in a trap of being branded from the outside (read up on it, Microsoft). Instead, even when the most outlandish and obvious attacks were thrown his way, the response wasn’t to jump back and be defensive, but instead to remain on strategy. This was even true when in locations where to step back on the key points would have been very crowd pleasing for the moment, such as when he was asked on his opinion of abortion laws while sitting before a group of fundamentalists, Barack instead stayed on the messaging he had maintained throughout. For the moment, it was unpopular, but it was true to his brand.
Sixth, partnerships and public endorsements were chosen wisely, as they are in all campaigns, but with an interesting twist. “Unofficial” endorsements were greeted warmly and dismissed slightly, but only enough that they couldn’t be applied directly to the campaign, but that they could reach the public eye. The universal appeal of Oprah’s endorsement was used frequently, while part of the effectiveness of Will.I.Am’s “Yes we can” video partially came from the fact that he made it clear he was not a part of Barack’s campaign, but as an interested individual he felt the need to promote the candidate in his own way. It humanized the buy-in effort of a celebrity without looking like anyone had “sold-out”. It was enough distance to make the effort seem both widely appealing and still within the perception that it was part of a counter-culture movement.
Finally, when the campaign was at its utmost height, the competition scrambled for a response to combat the momentum of the campaign, the response was minimal. The competition started to claim they were true voices of change, rolling out the word “Maverick” with an overwhelming consistency and offering a VP nod to someone who might compete with Barack in simply being different from previous political offerings. But at that point, Mr. Obama’s campaign already owned that marketplace, and so such efforts were regarded as little more than amusing.
The true ask of the election, for people to simply vote, was at hand. And it worked.
Yes, there were many aspects to this campaign, some tried and true, some were incredibly innovative and responsive, but the success of the campaign at its core was simply the establishment, maintenance, and consistency of a single brand. It tapped into a specific market, created buy-in, then involvement. It also recognized trends without falling victim to them, and treated competition in its own back yard as a non-threat. It was modern marketing and advertising as never seen before.
Now, this isn’t to say I didn’t buy in either. Just because one recognizes the business doesn’t mean they’re immune to it. The truth of any brand is that there also must be a quality offering at its core, or it will fail. Modern consumers aren’t stupid. But as we welcome in the new President tomorrow in an atmosphere of a modern Woodstock and watch for the world to change, I have to think back to Mr. Adam’s opinion and laugh a little. Peripheral my hide.
However, upon further evaluation, I have been reminded that the third ship might (or might not) have settled upon the earth and gave way to humankind. So maybe he had a point there as well.