Marketing Lessons From Barack Obama

I'm sure as time goes on there are going to be a lot of articles, books, blogs etc. written about how Barack Obama won the election.

Today, Fred Jacobs had an insightful post titled "Taking It Personal" about how the Obama campaign embraced personality and warmth combined with digital technology including email and text messages to intimately reach out to his supporters.

If you were an email or text subscriber to the Obama campaign you periodically received personal messages from Barack Obama and other members of the campaign keeping you up-to-date.

Read Fred's post here:

I also read an article today in this weeks Ad Age by renowned marketing expert and author Al Reis detailing how Barack Obama and his campaign out positioned all of his opponents in this years election.

He says that .....

"Nov. 4, 2008, will go down in history as the biggest day ever in the history of marketing. Take a relatively unknown man. Younger than all of his opponents. Black. With a bad-sounding name. Consider his first opponent: the best-known woman in America, connected to one of the most successful politicians in history. Then consider his second opponent: a well-known war hero with a long, distinguished record as a U.S. senator. It didn't matter. Barack Obama had a better marketing strategy than either of them".

"Change"

Reis identifys key factors that he felt led to the marketing victory.

1. Develop the ultimate slogan and stick with it.
2. Simplicity - Keep it simple. Obama Chose "Change"
3. Consistency - Tell the voters over and over again what you are about. In Obama's case, "Change"
4. Relevance

Read the entire article here:

Obama's strategists and advisers would make great consultants for radio stations. They get it! They have taken basic customer service principals along with a strategic positioning statement, then integrated them into a viral, interactive marketing campaign. You know what the results are. Broadcasters, advertisers and marketers can learn from Obama's victory.

We’re #1

I bet you thought I was telling you about the radio station. I wish I was, and I’m confident I will make that post someday. No, I’m talking about ASU Women’s softball. Did you know that the ASU women’s softball team was ranked number one in the nation? Neither did I. They are, this season with 44 wins and only two losses.

Both my girls play softball. They get that from Fran who came out to Arizona to play softball in 1978. Last night the girl’s softball league participated in a special promotion and we attended the ASU women’s softball game at Farrington Stadium in Tempe. I’m happy to report that ASU beat Washington 7 – 2. This is a great parallel to our oldest daughter’s 18-8 victory during the day yesterday. By the way, she had two great hits and played well in the field.

ASU softball could be the best sports entertainment value in the Valley! At $5.00 for a general admission ticket that would be equivalent to any lower bowl seat at any other stadium in town, we were up close watching an exciting game. There was electricity in the air. The near capacity crowd of 2,000 plus fans had spirit like you could only feel at a college game. This was due in part to the expertly picked music that was playing during the team warm-ups and through out the game. The crowd went crazy when ASU player Caylyn Carlson hit a grand slam homer in the first inning and their excitement never waned throughout the game.

What was even more interesting to me from a marketing standpoint was that the marketing team at the venue kept the entire experience moving and entertaining. It was like they were formatting/programming a local radio station. The women on the field were the records/songs, the stadium announcer was the DJ (keeping the momentum moving forward), there were commercials and contests involving local business and winners between the innings and they even recycled the audience with a bounce-back for the next home game (if you brought your current ticket to the next game you would receive a $2.00 discount). As any good programmer will tell you, you must have forward momentum on the radio station and keep the listeners engaged. That is precisely what happened last night at the game. We had so much fun that I can hardly wait to go to the next game.

ASU delivered! Not just because they won, but because they won new fans last night and provided a great experience. They marketed their product well to young, aspiring, female softball players, their coaches and parents. It was a great family event; affordable, entertaining, easy-free parking, and great competition between two talented teams. We left wanting more.

Brilliant!