wonderful article

Freedomfighter — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:21:08 -0400

I think you put it quite aptly. There is a difference in the way the Obama campaign and Moveon converged to grow a movement compared to other attempts to use micro-targeting. They started early and piled it on. When they wanted an event, they sent emails to those most likely to read the email and attend. The result is a bunch of identical minded people showing up, who could be encouraged to donate without any criticism of why they were meeting. That works well, until the people attending realize they were caught up in a form of impulse buying habit and not getting anything out of it.
Micro-targeting has great potential for a true supporter base, but it does have serious drawbacks if there is not a lot offline connection.

You're right

Patrick Ruffini — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:19:19 -0500

W The President was very corporate marketing-like.

At the risk of veering from inside dope to hairsplitting, that logo was never really officially promoted by the campaign. Our merchandiser came up with at one remove, and it just took off.

The "W'04" oval stickers the campaign were wildly popular, and by the end of the campaign, you'd see "W" stuff all over the place at rallies.

Still, the Obama thing is a bit different because it contains a messaging element, and isn't just about likability.

Good post. Buuuut...Obama's

justin@justinhamilton.org — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:01:12 -0500

Good post. Buuuut...Obama's not the first.

The first was Ike, who used Maddision Ave "Ad Men" to run the first tv based campaign. (you can read more about it here.

"I like Ike" didn't have much anything to do with policy, but evoking the likability factor.

Also, Patrick, I think all the "W the President" merchandise was pretty corporate oriented/brand marketing-ish.

Anyway, good post.

"Obama literalists may read

Cow — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:48:37 -0500

"Obama literalists may read back chapter and verse on his policy initiatives"
This Obama supporter will give you a pass, there's some valuable insight here. Even for us Obamaniacs.

Explain yourself

Joshua Levy — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:27:27 -0500

Wow, you're painting with an awfully broad brush! Mind unpacking that a bit, or are you content to just fling the f-word around without explaining one bit of what you mean?

Obama is similar to a fascist movement

Freedomfighter — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:24:39 -0500

While not exact, the Obama movement has elements of fascist, communist and populist movements. I find this particular soft sell of evangelical oratory style mind numbing to the point of entrancement. When you realize it, you stop drinking the Kool-aid.

Good marketing doesn't equal bad candidate

Joshua Levy — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:16:29 -0500

I don't think Patrick is saying that Obama is some sort of phony who's hiding behind a good marketing campaign. The kind of marketing his campaign engages in -- image-based, superficial -- is used by all successful marketers. But it only works if the product is something people want to buy.

Imagine the same campaign devised for, say, Bob Dole.

If Nike made bad shoes their campaign wouldn't work. Like Nike, Obama's campaign is successfully branding him as something that people want to associate themselves with. Will it last? I'm expecting blowback from people tired of being told how cool the new hot thing is.

answer is simple

Jamal McCoy — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:18:00 -0500

Well, had you read our content bro, you wouldn't have to ask. Surely once a man is exposed for being a phony, you don't go calling him inspirational. But we will make it clearer as we go along. We're all working folk, and we're maxing out at present. Obama is anything but inspiratorial. He is spun as inspiratorial. You ask about policies and content. Which ones? Everyone of his proposals is borrowed.

Stay posted. Just stay posted and spread the word.

What exactly is the problem?

Will Johnston — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:05:31 -0500

@1 Jamal - I just read what I believe to be everything on your site. You seem to make the implication that because Obama is a brand/employs good marketers that he is necessarily a fraud. You seem to be lacking any real evidence. You might try to address specific policy problems rather than state that he shouldn't be President because he is inspirational. Even if the media do portray him positively (a point I would dispute), that in and of itself does not mean he is unqualified to be President.

Will

PolFeeds - News from Politicians

Beat you to it

Jamal McCoy — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:09:48 -0500

I'm from the stop-obama.org blog, and a colleague of mine, Jeff Gold, has just written up an article along the same lines as you.

In fact, that's what he's aiming to do throughout his activity at our website. Check it out. Our mission is to expose Obama for the brand he is.

I encourage ya'all to join us. A candidate posing with Apple and Google to the point where his agitprop relies on recycled apple advertisements is a threat to us all. We need a real man in office, not a figment of the marketers imagination.

It would seem...

aliakbar — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 18:19:32 -0400

Hmmm. Some bloggers tend to spout whatever they want. It's unfortunate that one of the large leaders did so only paying attention to his own blog as for statistical data.

Anyone notice that Ron Paul won on his site's poll. I suppose with that logic Ron Paul should pick up on his site and be pronounced the winner of the nomination since PF's site is the end of all data.

Thanks for posting the truth Connell Donatelli. Truth goes a long way for a blogger. An apology and admission faulty analysis will go far as well.

Ali A. Akbar
eConservative.org

McCain Search Ads

EricFrenchman — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:44:27 -0400

Patrick,

I'm sorry you are disappointed that there are not any John McCain ads running on your blog any more. I can assure you that at this time we have neither excluded your site or slowed down in any way our spending with Google. Google must have determined that your blog was no longer relevant to our ad campaign or other advertisers are outbidding us for your premier traffic.

Eric Frenchman
Chief Internet Strategist
Connell Donatelli

experience counts

Freedomfighter — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:59:44 -0400

I am sorry but it is way too early to even take notice of what is happening in the presidential race. Currently, there is a bunch of bug-eye activists flaming the politics. It is not just the anti-war movement or anti-amnesty crowd. The latest immigration bill was attacked by libertarians for because of the creation of a national ID.

When the election comes closer, the average person is going to start really weighing there thoughts. Does anyone really think a withdrawal from Iraq will result in peace? Does it matter if the Democrats are going to raise taxes? The Democrats talk about putting more taxes on the rich but how about removing taxes from the poor?

With Obama and Ron Paul skyrocketing on the internet, you have to wonder what the real public thinks. Ron Paul is Republican who opposes the Iraq war in total, but how many opponents of the Iraq war even know who he is?

Romney may be a Mormon but he is not black and is not a woman. Is that a liability or an advantage? Who knows.

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