Archive for the ‘millenials’ Category

Change the Game

Friday, November 7th, 2008

During his historic acceptance speech, President Elect Barack Obama graciously thanked many of the people that made his run for the White House so successful. And while Obama’s campaign rightfully touched on numerous hot button issues and moving philosophic ideals, it had to be effectively and consistently communicated.

Being the marketing heads that we are here at Cashmere, we decided to break out a few of the strong points that we noticed. Obama has the chance now to change the world and how we look at it, he’s already changed enhanced our vision!

Cashmere Observations of the Obama – Marketing – Positioning – Branding Campaign

1. Simplicity. A majority of the population thinks that our country is going in the wrong direction, hence Obama’s focus on the word “Change.”

2. Consistency. Did you notice that the one consistent word/theme always present in his messaging was the word “change”? You saw it everywhere—in everything from creative billboards to t-shirts, stickers to yard signs, e-mail blasts to text messages. He repeated the message over and over and voters identified him with the concept.

3. Relevance. By his relentless focus on change, he forced his opponents to devote much of their campaign time discussing changes they proposed for the country. And how their changes would differ from the changes that he proposed.

4. Social Network. His campaign utilized and/or created the tools that let people (especially new voters) get engaged easily and in a manner with which they were already familiar. Both on and offline, it was very easy for people to participate. a Facebook application that let users remind their network to vote for their candidate of choice in the U.S. presidential election by “donating” their Facebook status, the Obama team really embraced the new renaissance.

5. On the Move. Did you get an Obama text, either directly from his campaign or from a friend that forwarded it? Strategies like the first political campaign app introduced for Apple’s iPhone (which included an Obama “Countdown to Change” calendar that ticked off the seconds until Election Day) to Obama’s use of communication methods that like texting were embraced. Many of these had previously been ignored but when used properly they allowed his message to reach specific demographics instantly—with a device that was already right in their hand.

6. Get that Paper. A template that provided a record-breaking amount of donations was built upon gaining small sums of money from a huge amount of people. While the Obama campaign had no shortage of large donations from the usual streams, the ability to donate through the internet, allowed for a grassroots, bottom-up model that gave people the feeling of actually being able to help the cause—and eventually change the world.