Many have written about the marketing success and exemplary use of new media in Barrack Obama’s Presidential Campaign. All good.
For me, the stand out was the simplicity and focus of the central message: change. The word was in every step of the campaign and was the one take out of the entire effort. The manifestation of it in ‘Yes we can’ was simple too. In fact, too simple by typical advertising standards, which are used to funky word play and clever lines. Imagine a typical agency process that has to evaluate ‘Yes we can’.
Planner: Is this based on a consumer insight? It’s not clear as to what we can. I think we must root the entire campaign on a medium agnostic idea that resonates with the consumer. Recent quantitative and stochastic research show that consumers make the choice at the very end and require constant reminders at every stage – so we need a multi-pronged, multi-layered approach. Studies also show that 4 out of 5 people make up 80% of the population. So I think we should focus on the end-end benefit. How about ‘Vote for me’?
Client: I want more colour. And where is the call for action? C’mon guys, let’s be creative. I could have done what you sent me on my own PC. The 14pt type is not readable. I mean, you guys are the experts…can we see more options?
AD (almost pleading): But sir, this is bang on…
Creative (turning the heat on AE): you never told me about this brief and how urgent it was.
AE: But I told you when we were approaching the lift yesterday…
Client: I like Option 3 though. Just add the call to action, the URL, the partner logos and we are good to go. I love clean layouts. So we are all clear on action points then? Can somebody minute this? Can we see the revised work tomorrow?
For more such, but real conversations, check this.
To get back to Obama and simplicity of message – a political campaign is not the same as selling soap, but the focus and simplicity of message works for both.
