TechPresident has an excellent set of observations about the brand building happening with the Obama campaign. In The Marketing of the President 2008 – they point out that the focus is not so much on Obama as it is on Hope and Change.
The Obama campaign is not selling Obama. It is not selling a public figure with progressive political beliefs. It is selling Hope — and Change.
And JD Lasica puts it well with his observation:
Fascinating, and absolutely dead on. Those who believe that there’s something duplicitous about “branding” a political campaign are completely missing the point. The Obama campaign is selling an idea, not a candidate. That’s what makes it a movement, not just a typical political campaign.
The thing I would add as an observation is the way Obama constantly turns things from focusing on him to focusing on the collective “us”. Yes We Can. He might not have the experience, but We do. He’s not going to be the change, We are going to be the change. He’s not the one we’ve been waiting for, We are the ones we have been waiting for! It goes on and on like this.
Every criticism gets deflected from him to us. It makes it very hard to challenge him, because any criticism ends up being directed not at him, but at the collective us. And criticism of us is not going to fly.
Talk about a teflon candidate – this is kind of incredible.
Whatever your politics, you have to give the Campaign credit for being one of the most effective marketing machines we’ve ever seen. The question becomes can that be translated into the running the country effectively? (oh sorry, I forgot, it’s not about whether he can do it, because We can do that)
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