Branding Obama

In this historic presidential race, one thing has become increasingly clear: Barack Obama has become arguably the most well-branded candidate in history. Advertising Age featured an article today attesting to Obama's popularity, and the fact that he's managed to carry a significant demographic: the so-called creative class.

Obviously, every candidate is using the internet, and history has even seen a few internet candidates, such as Howard Dean, who was among the first to capitalize on new media and the grassroots, viral support it could generate. Ironically, Dean's campaign was undone by a media-driven sound byte that overcame his message. Obama's campaign is different and significant for a few reasons.

He has not only leveraged the web, he's refined his message to simple, web-ready language that resonates with online audiences (younger, creative and affluent audiences) while maintaining a strong base off-line using the same message. It's a message, like all great brands, that can be boiled down to one or two words. It's a message of hope and change.

Obama's campaign has spread online largely through free, consumer-generated media, and it's gaining the lion's share of online interest. According to Ad Age, which cited the web-analytics firm, Compete, Obama's content generated triple the "FaceTime" of Clinton's while beating McCain's content on YouTube nearly 36 to 1.

Part of the reason is not merely due to the quantity of Obama's base of support. It's the quality of his support base that is allowing his content to thrive. Mash-ups and viral videos like Will.i.am's "Yes We Can" video (the subject of a previous blog), "Vote Different" (a nod to Apple's famous 1984-themed ad), plus "Hope Changes Everything" (below) and of course "Obama Girl" all have enjoyed tons of play time and rank among the top viral videos on the web.

Perhaps it's because many of these efforts were contributed by creative professionals drawn to Obama. Take Shepard Fairey for instance. From Advertising Age:

"His politics fall perfectly in line with what I do as an artist," said urban artist and guerrilla marketer Shepard Fairey, an Obama fan since 2004 who offered his endorsement via a striking poster series. "In advertising and marketing, things are simplified to accentuate the positive and utilize soundbites that are really powerful; it's about economical communications, and [Barack Obama] is really good at that," said Mr. Fairey. "That type of approach to politics -- when it seems like he really has conviction, too -- is really easy to distill down to marketable images. It felt really easy for me to make a poster for him." (see Fairey's poster above)

The New York Times also weighed-in on the brand-power of Obama February 4th when they compared candidate Web sites, claiming Obama's to be the more Mac-like versus Hillary's PC-like site. Despite Apple's small market share that in political terms could be considered a marginalized group, the comparison makes Obama's site the more creative, easier to use and compelling site, gaining Apple's enviable brand attributes and the rabid support of like-minded Mac fanatics (who make up the majority of the so-called creative class).

Obama's appeal extends to many groups but perhaps the most meaningful group of supporters is this young, affluent, creative class that is carrying his multi-medium message to the masses, and is, in the process, building a tough brand to beat.

John Edwards & Cross Country

Heading into the Potomac primaries, Obama and Clinton are in a tight race to gain the party's nomination for President. Both have secured over a thousand delegates and are virtually tied while other contenders have dropped out of the race, including John Edwards. Yet, oddly enough, Edwards will be the key to breaking the deadlock.

His situation reminds me of an experience I had running cross country my freshman year in college. I was the fifth best runner on the team. In the race that would determine whether or not we would go to nationals, I felt my role was inconsequential, since the top runners on the team would surely hold our fate. Coming down the stretch, battling to pass one more runner, my teammates cheered like mad. It turned out that I needed to beat one more runner for us to get to nationals, and I was the team's final scorer. I passed the guy, and we qualified for nationals by one point. Although I received the credit, I learned the value of a team that day, and that you don't have to be in the lead to be a leader.

John Edwards no doubt hoped to be his party's nominee, much like I aspired to be our team's top runner. Now, he's the presumptive vice presidential pick whose coveted endorsement will tip the balance, bringing with it a host of delegates earned before he left the race. With Bill Clinton supporting his wife, and Edwards expected to endorse either Obama or Hillary, Al Gore is left as the party's elder statesman, likely not to endorse either candidate before the convention. Therefore, Edwards' endorsement is the prize that will determine who gets the nomination. He won't have won the race, but he's the key to getting his team to the White House.

Perfect Pitch

On the eve of Super Tuesday, I thought I'd share a video that is novel in this media age of election politics. Barack Obama's Web site posted the following video, combining a speech given during the New Hampshire primaries with celebrity voice-overs set to music. It's inspiring, sure, and no doubt mobilizing. It's also novel.

Although I have yet to use this space to endorse a candidate, I enjoy following the campaigns if only to reconcile the difference between effective campaigning and effective governing. As a marketer by trade, I understand the difference between the product and the pitch, or the steak, if you will, and the sizzle. I firmly believe that process is more important than product, if for no other reason than a good product is rendered meaningless without relevant process. In other words, in electing the best candidate we're effectively identifying the best campaigner.

Obama has proven his relevance by striking a chord (literally in this context) with this content-driven generation through simple, relevant messaging. The relevant "content" in this case, is both the medium and the message, and- with a little help from Hollywood- it sounds pretty good. Granted the Web is a critical part of every candidate's campaign, but I couldn't see Mitt Romney's camp inspiring an effort like this, nor McCain's, Hillary's or Huckabee's for that matter. Does this suggest Obama is the most relevant candidate? The best leader? The most qualified to lead America through change? Who knows, but where there's sizzle, we can assume there's steak. For now, I'm enjoying the heck out of the campaign, as well as the novelty and the beauty of this thoroughly modern message.

Profiles in Leadership: Billy Mills

In a recent class, several of my students admitted they had not heard the story of Billy Mills (okay, all of them). Mills, who is one of my heroes, is someone every KU student should know about- not only because his story is so inspirational- but also because his story says so much about who we are and what we can accomplish.

Without going into a full biography of Billy Mills, which you can read here, I'll just offer a few of his quotations. The first is one he found in a psychology textbook when he was a student at KU. It said that "the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between reality or imagination." It was that simple message that initiated his vision of winning an Olympic gold medal. Another quotation attributed to Mills is the following:

"Every Passion has its Destiny."

This is something to keep in mind as you develop your own goals and set your own vision. Your will to prepare will help determine your own destiny and whether or not your passion is ultimately realized.

Finally, in response to his winning the 1964 Olympic 10,000 meter gold medal (he remains the only American ever to win the event), in what many consider the greatest Olympic upset in history, Mills simply said this:

"To me it was never an upset. I got myself into great shape, I went over there to win the race, and I did it."

In other words, winning became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Mills' vision was realized in Tokyo. If you've never seen footage of the race, you absolutely must watch it.