Marketing and the campaign
If you believe that much of national political campaigns is about marketing, then Seth Godin has an incisive evaluation of the presidential campaign.
There's a reason most product marketers don't use attack ads. All they do is suppress sales of your opponent, they don't help you. Since TV ads began, voter turnout has progressively decreased. That's because the goal of attack ads is to keep your opponent's voters from showing up. Both sides work to whittle down the other. In a winner-take-all game like a political election, this strategy is fine if it works.
So why didn't the ads work this time?
The tribe that Obama built identified with him. Attacking him was like attacking them. They took it personally, and their outrage led to more donations and bigger turnout.
When tonight is over and the pundits start picking over the remains, more of the inside story will come out. Still, I think he's right about the tribe.
Comments (1)
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I think the "tribe that Obama" built got tired of not having any money or power, or was reactionary against eight years in Bushland, not because they identified with him personally or thought an attack against him was an attack on them . I think that's b.s.
Posted on November 4, 2008 3:40 PM