AS HEARD ON XM - MARKETING THE NEXT PRESIDENT

Listen to this week's segment:
The M on XM - This week's segment
LIVE report: XM 09-01-08

Ads referenced in this week's segment:
Senator McCain congratulates Senator Obama
Senator Obama tries to blast Senator McCain for VP pick Palin

QuickTime required

 

An effective use of mass media has always been a critical component to winning a presidential election. From the famous sweaty Nixon to the more infamous Willy Horton ads, the most powerful person on the planet has consistently won that office largely because of how he (and perhaps in the future, she) has used the media.

This basic dynamic, the ability to use the media AND the ability to pay for media, has transformed the very nature of the election process. Let’s face it, more and more people are voting for a marketing department, a campaign strategist or a production team.

I say this because in today’s culture, the vast majority of voters will base their decision on who should be the next President of the United States on soundbites and thirty-second commercials.

Those soundbites will be carefully crafted and finely tuned by someone other than the candidate.

Those commercials will be written, produced and aired by a group of highly trained experts… again… none of whom who are actually the candidate.

The point is that the remarks the candidates are making, the positions they are taking and the claim to the White House they are staking are all created by people who are not them. And these communications are what voters are basing their decisions on.

Do you think Hillary Clinton actually had any conversation at all with the person who wrote her “Latin outreach” campaign video for the South Florida market?

Highly doubtful.

Don’t misread that. This is not an attempt to single out one candidate. It is merely an example of the norm.

SO

If voters will make their decisions on what they see of the candidate on the evening news or in their campaign advertising

AND

Very little of those messages will actually be written or produced by the candidate.

THEN

You should have all the information you can get about who those people are and what they are trying to get you to think through their highly produced, finely honed messaging.

In our segment on XM Satellite Radio’s POTUS ’08 channel, we will break down the campaign marketing strategies, analyze the campaign messaging, and attempt to unveil exactly what these teams of campaign experts are trying to get you to think.