thinks

Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, or independent, all marketers can learn from the Barack Obama campaign about how to deliver a message that states, “I am the right choice.” Even better, Obama is learning from us, too, about how to deliver that message in a post-media marketplace.

First, the message. Watch this.

Obama’s positioning, as an outsider, fighting the cynicism prevelant in modern politics has been done before. Up until now, John McCain tried to hold that line and had done a reasonable job. But McCain, for his many accomplishments as a Senator and statesman, has never seemed to connect beyond his core audience. Obama, by talking about his experiences in small towns and big cities, in local government and national, and with Republicans and Democrats, cast a wide net with a focused position. He even managed to address his lack of tenure and turn it from a negative to at least a neutral. Copywriters and Aaron Sorkin alike can learn a lot from that speech.

Better still, the Obama campaign is learning quickly how to do the job better. Fred Wilson wrote an excellent critique - and a later follow-up - of the campaign’s mis-steps on their first day. It looks like they’ve corrected some of them already - notably, the ability to embed video. And while they still need to correct others - the ability to include offsite blogs within a member’s profile is a gaping hole - the progress is impressive.

I don’t know if Obama will win. I don’t know enough about him yet to suggest he should win. But what he’s doing so well is creating a demand for his product, solely on the basis of his positioning as someone above the fray. And he’s finding the right ways to deliver that message to an audience looking for something different. It may turn out as nothing more than style over substance. But you’ve got to admire the style.

Sramana Mitra provides guest commentary over at Read/Write Web discussing the web sites used by the tween market. While not typically an area I get into, as the father of two girls in the pre-teen demo, I bring years of unwitting - and sometimes witless - field research to the topic. While Mitra offers an excellent overview of the space, the piece illustrates the need for both qualitative data and quantitative data when developing personas and marketing plans.

What I found most interesting in the piece was the eMarketer chart calling out “Select Online Activities.” It’s particularly illustrative of how market research doesn’t always tell you what you think it does. “Play online games” ties for the most common activity - claimed by 66% of respondents - with “Go to social network websites” way down at number 9 with 17% responding. Yet, the sites enjoyed by my kids - NeoPets (#2 among these sites, according to Alexa) and Club Penguin are their favorites - involve degrees of social networking into the gaming experience, either playing against others, competing for higher rankings, or engaging in trades of points for virtual merchandise, much like Linden Dollars in Second Life. Parents have the ability to limit how much access their kids have to chat and other social aspects within the sites themselves, but I know both my girls spend a fair bit of time at school discussing the shared experiences with their friends, too. The sites, intentionally or otherwise, define social networking as much as MySpace or LinkedIn - a longtime favorite here - do among older teens and business professionals. My kids generally choose the sites they’re most interested in based entirely upon what they can share with friends. If we recognize Web 2.0 for enabling a shared experience and similarly recognize that the web remains only one channel in an increasingly multi-channel consumer, then these sites generally represent “social networking” sites unto themselves. Clearly, Mitra can only go so deep in a short article, but the point remains.

The lesson for me is the need to check your assumptions; at the door, if need be. Companies leading the way make excellent assumptions because they spend tremendous time debating and refining those assumptions until they come up with ones that represent their audience best. How often do you question the assumptions you’re operating under? Is it time to check those assumptions again?

Like Fred Wilson I got bit by something nasty last week - a stomach bug, in my case - and spent the last few days in bed. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

You’d think Steve Jobs just announced they were giving away free PowerMacs. While Steve Jobs’ “Thoughts on Music” fires a shot across the RIAA’s bow, in practice it represents little more than carefully executed PR. Jobs didn’t demand the music industry change. He didn’t state Apple will stop selling DRM’d music or give preferential treatment to labels embracing DRM-free music. He simply explained why Apple has no choice but to do the thing that many consumers - as well as the European government - have taken them to task for doing. Steve Jobs, Savvy Businessman? Absolutely. Steve Jobs, Hero to the Masses? Maybe not.

Sorry. I wish I had something clever to add to the Super Bowl ad debate. It seems that’s the big buzz of the day. I think I got it all off my chest - much like the Snicker’s guys’ hair - yesterday. About that, Mars is pulling the Snickers ad I hated so much. Better late than never.

I agree with Seth Godin’s premise that Super Bowl ads exist as content in and of themselves (hence, my activity this evening). His last sentence, though, “The winners, I think, are the agencies and the pundits and those that would like advertising to be more than it actually is,” shows what’s wrong with the system. Those folks (me included) might be the only people who ultimately care. But the winners are the consumers. In fact, as the ads demonstrated tonight, consumers tell the best story. Advertising is only what it is. And only the people who really care about the product do a solid job of selling it.