Obama Beats Out Apple by Danielle Sacks Fast Company October 17, 2008
According to Advertising Age, Presidential nominee John McCain is coming in paltry fifth place. Fifth, that is, for the ad trade's annual "Marketer of the Year" award for 2008 (although with McCain's schizophrenic branding campaign, it's kind of strange he made the list at all). Guess who the winner is--beating out business icons like Apple and Nike? Brand Obama, who seems to be the "you" of 2008 (as in Time's Person of the Year 2006). Of the hundreds of agency heads and top marketers attending the annual Association of National Advertisers' conference, 36% voted for the Dem (which did not include P&G's soon exiting Jim Stengel, who didn't vote for McCain or Obama, but Apple, which came in second place). Reasons for the Obama crowning include his campaign's ability to harnass and mobilize Web 2.0 and turn a no-name brand into a powerful household name. If you want to find out how Obama actually did it, read Fast Company's "The Brand Called Obama," from our April issue. ... http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/danielle-sacks/culture-vulturist/obama-beats-out-apple The Brand Called Obama By Ellen McGirt March 19, 2008 Win or lose, Barack Obama's rise changes business as usual for everyone. Here's why. "Whatever you do, don't hurt Barack!" It was the afternoon of Super Tuesday, and the Chicago sky threatened snow. Senator Barack Obama had just returned to his hometown as voters in 22 states were making history by choosing between a black man and a white woman to be the Democratic nominee for president. The road-weary candidate put off calling fund-raisers or leading one last rally. Instead, he headed over to a downtown gym to play basketball with his nephew, his brother-in-law, and a few buddies. He needed to take a few minutes to chill out, and hoops was his therapy. Among those on the court would be his old friend -- and major contributor -- John W. Rogers Jr. Rogers is the founder and chairman of Ariel Capital, an investment firm with some $13 billion in assets under management. He is a neighbor of Obama's in Hyde Park and has traded elbows with him on the hardwood dozens of times. But as Rogers left for the gym, he was accosted at the door by his colleague, Ariel president Mellody Hobson. A friend of Obama and his wife, Michelle, Hobson knew that Rogers, usually a shy sort, could be aggressive on the court. So she implored him to go easy on the senator: "He can't look all beat up!" It wouldn't be good if the candidate showed up on TV later that evening with a black eye. Hobson had no need to worry, and not because Rogers held back. As Obama has been known to joke before he hits the boards -- or the podium -- "Relax, I've got game. I've got plenty of game." Super Tuesday proved him right: On the court, his team won two of three contests, and he walked off without a scratch. At the polls, he took 13 states to Hillary Clinton's 9, generating momentum that would build from the Potomac to the Pacific and, in some eyes, make him the Democratic front-runner. The fact that Obama has taken what we thought we knew about politics and turned it into a different game for a different generation is no longer news. What has hardly been examined is the degree to which his success indicates a seismic shift on the business horizon as well. Politics, after all, is about marketing -- about projecting and selling an image, stoking aspirations, moving people to identify, evangelize, and consume. The promotion of the brand called Obama is a case study of where the American marketplace -- and, potentially, the global one -- is moving. His openness to the way consumers today communicate with one another, his recognition of their desire for authentic "products," and his understanding of the need for a new global image -- all are valuable signals for marketers everywhere. ... http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/124/the-brand-called-obama.html *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
