US Political Marketers

Want to learn about ‘branding’ and ‘positioning’? Tune into CNN nightly, and you will see the best marketing machine at work – the American political system and the Presidential election. These guys are good!

Branding – check out the signs that are handed out at each speech with a few key words that are part of the ever evolving platforms. Or the typography on the candidates’ names and how the type treatment conveys “confidence”, “future focused” or “trusted”.

Positioning – look at the ‘tit for tat’ positioning and re-positioning of the respective tickets.

“Obama is too young” – and he names an older, experienced running mate.

“McCain is too old” - and he promptly names a younger running mate. The choice of a women for VP is even more interesting, as an appeal to disillusioned Hillary supporters. It’s almost like Tide offering a lemon scented detergent to counter Sunlight – brilliant!

My wife wonders why I’m so interested in the US election, and, really, I’m not. But I just can’t get enough of these master marketers at work.