Marketing Lessons from the Elections (Editorial Blog)

The always informative retailwire.com directed me to an article in today's edition of Advertising Age titled What Marketers Can Learn From Obama's Campaign. In it columnist Al Ries outlines three things that the advertising/marketing community can learn from the campaign run by Barack Obama, who made history yesterday when he was elected President of the United States. They are:

1. Simplicity. "About 70% of the [US] population thinks the country is going in the wrong direction, hence Obama's focus on the word 'change'."

2. Consistency. "…Companies try to 'communicate' when they should be trying to 'position'…Mr. Obama's objective was not to communicate the fact that he was an agent of change… What Mr. Obama actually did was to repeat the 'change' message over and over again, so that potential voters identified Mr. Obama with the concept. In other words, he owns the 'change' idea in voters' minds…. Effective slogans need to be simple and grounded in reality.

3. Relevance. "…By his relentless focus on change, Mr. Obama shifted the political battlefield. 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…. All the talk about 'change' distracted both Ms. Clinton and Mr. McCain from talking about their strengths: their track records, their experience and their relationships with world leaders."

Contrast that with what Stephane Dion and the Liberal Party of Canada did in the last election. They made the Green Shift, a complex piece of policy that contained the dreaded 'T' word (tax), the centerpiece of their platform. And, while there was consistency in delivering that message, they failed to make it relevant to the country's current economic challenges. Thus in marketing terms the Liberal-Dion campaign was the complete antithesis of the Obama campaign. And we all know the results. The Liberals are looking for a new leader and as Ries points out in his article, Barack Obama overcame being relatively unknown, younger than his opponents, black and having a "bad sounding name" and won the election.

As I read Ries' article this morning, it struck me that retailers would do well to follow in Obama's marketing footsteps and start delivering a simple, consistent, relevant message to their customers and potential customers. It's an approach that's appropriate for challenging times.

Comments (1)

justin:

I completely agree, great aricle!

Posted by justin | September 7, 2010 4:10 AM

Posted on September 7, 2010 04:10

Editorial Blog

Commentary on retailing, shopping, consumers and the gifts and tablewares industry today by G&T editor Lori Smith

Marketing Lessons from the Elections

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