President-Elect Obama Masters New Media

Well, we all witnessed history this past tuesday, as Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. It’s historic for obvious reasons, and whether you agree with Obama’s views or not, you cannot deny the inspiration his election has been to millions in the U.S. and it’s effect on the world. That said, we also witnessed a history as it relates to the integrated marketing communciations discipline. Obama used new media masterfully, and was miles ahead of the McCain campaign.

We learned in week three about the importance and methods of creating buzz–such as the ABC’s of Buzz from New Zealand Marketing Magazine. Obama’s campaign used a grass roots marketing effort to reach people online and build buzz about his brand. His campaign staff provided the right messaging through their “Alphas”–the spin machine that any campaign has to promote their candidate’s views and messaging; the “Bee’s” the army of thousands of volunteers across the country who acted as his messenges; and the “Consumers”–we, the American people, who bought what he was selling.

And that’s an important point to make–not to take anything away from the inspiration or history moment. The American people were sold something–we were sold Obama, and a message shaped through the effective use of new media to reach out to voters and connect with them. We witnessed history on multiple levels. Take a look at this article: http://www.euractiv.com/en/pa/ogilvy-ceo-new-media-key-obama-campaign/article-176894, where the CEO of Ogilvy described Obama’s use of new media as a key component of his successful campaign:

“Embracing innovative new communication tools on the Internet and mobile phones to engage citizens has been central to the success of Barack Obama’s US presidential campaign, ” says Brian Fetherstonhaugh, chairman and CEO of OgilvyOne Worldwide.

Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized