Election '08: the marketing behind the politics

With all this talk on politics we marketers find ourselves talking about, well, marketing.

After all, (as I've analyzed here and here), these politicians are truly "brands" with their campaigns the equivalent of full-throttle, high-octane, marketing campaigns.

So in mid-October David Berkowitz, Michael Leis and Alan Wolk joined me for a 'panelcast" to discuss the many marketing lessons of the '08 Election where we went through a host of topics--spanning positioning, messaging, marketing surprises, blunders, buzzwords, and more. We dished for well over an hour (yes, we marketers are mouthy beings) and we've captured some of the highlights for you below... in quick, 3-minute segments.

As we enter the last lap of Election '08, don't forget to vote and, for the love of all things marketing (!), don't forget the many branding lessons we've learned throughout this election process. The segments below focus on positioning, blunders and surprises, respectively. (And more might be coming.)

RSS and email subscribers, please click through to the blog to view the segments.

Comments

[C.B. Whittemore]

Way cool. And, way relevant. Thank you!

[Gavin Heaton]

I am loving these videos. An excellent way of teasing out some of the issues and approaches.

[Paul]

Yeah, great stuff guys. These video formats really do work well. Love some of the conversations! You got to start making this panel thing a regular blog event CK! You look so good on camera ;).

[Steve]

Excellent vids. You guys should be on Fox's Red Eye! I agree that the McCain camp has had a real branding issue and has not had a consistent marketing image. Far worse, is that their campaign promise has appeared to change so many times while Obama has been consistent in both message and delivery. The "Patriot" campaign would of had much more resonance than the current "Maverick" one.

[Neil Vineberg]

CK, as usual, fabulous! I will always remember the phone calls and inspiration on Election night from Times Square !!!!!!