November 4, 2008 will go down in history as the most important day in marketing. Imagine the new president. A little-known figure. Younger than his opponent. Black. With an unimpressive and unimpressive name. And imagine the first opponent of this black man: a famous American lady and the wife of the most elegant and charming president in history. And his second opponent is also a famous figure with a long and impressive record, a respected senator. Yet, none of this seems to be a big deal because Barack Obama has a more effective marketing strategy than his opponents. The strategy of “Change”.
Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda under Hitler's Nazi dictatorship, was an advocate of the "big lie" theory, stating: "If you tell a terrible lie and repeat it over and over again, people will believe it."
The opposite of this lying strategy is the “big honesty” mindset. “If you speak the truth often and repeat it over and over again, that honesty will accumulate and create a culture of authenticity.
The failure of the Clinton solution
What words did Hillary Clinton use? First, the wife of former US President Bill Clinton used the word “Experience”. When she saw the progress in Mr. Obama’s election campaign, she switched to “Countdown to change”. Then she switched to “Solutions for country”.
And now, what word is associated with Mrs. Clinton? I don't know, do you?
And here’s John McCain. On October 26, a cover story in The New York Times was headlined “The Making [and Remaking and Remaking] of the Candidate.” Readers could see a series of titles attached to the candidate’s profile: “Conservative. Unconventional. Hero. Straightforward. Leader. Mediator. Experienced Leader. Patriot.” The subheading read: “When a Campaign Can’t Make a Story, Does It Imperil Its Hero?”
McCain did, in fact, come up with the slogan, “Country first,” but this came too late in the campaign and was a slogan that had little relevance to ordinary voters.
In general, in terms of tactics, both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain focused on the message: "I can change America more than my opponent."
But the word “more” doesn’t work in marketing. There is only one thing that works in marketing – “differentiation”. Only by being different can you pre-empt the collective idea in the consumer’s mind, and thus your competitors cannot take what you have.
Best slogan – The ultimate slogan (Imitating BMW's slogan – The Ultimate Driving Machine – ND)
Consider what the word “driving” has done for BMW. Is there a car more fun than a BMW? Maybe there is a car that is more fun, but that doesn’t matter. BMW has pre-empted the word “driving” in the minds of its customers.
Sadly, only a few brands own a word that sticks in the minds of consumers, and most brands don’t use the word in their slogans. Mercedes-Benz owns the word “prestige,” but doesn’t use it in their slogans. Toyota owns the word “reliability,” but doesn’t use it in their slogans. Coca-Cola owns the word “the real thing,” but doesn’t use it in their slogans. Pepsi-Cola owns the word “Pepsi Generation.”
Many brands have followed Pepsi’s model. Every time they hire a new CMO or hire a new advertising agency, they often change their slogan. Since 1975, BMW has used only one slogan: “The ultimate driving machine.” Also since 1975, Pepsi-Cola has used many different slogans:
- 1975: “For those who think young.”
- 1978: “Have a Pepsi day.”
- 1980: “Catch that Pepsi spirit.”
- 1982: “Pepsi′s got your taste for life.”
- 1983: “Pepsi now.”
- 1984: “The choice of a new generation.”
- 1989: “A generation ahead.”
- 1990: “Pepsi: The choice of a new generation.”
- 1992: “Gotta have it.”
- 1993: “Be young. Have fun. Drink Pepsi.”
- 1995: “Nothing else is a Pepsi.”
- 2002: “Generation next.”
- 2003: “Think young. Drink young.”
- 2004: “It′s the cola.”
Thirty-three years after the launch of the “Ultimate Driving Machine” campaign, BMW has become the 11th best-selling imported European car brand in the United States. And now, it has taken the number one spot in this multi-ethnic country.
Thirty-three years later, Pepsi-Cola was the second best-selling beverage in the United States. Now, with all the slogans it uses to advertise its product, it is still the number two drink.
The average Pepsi-Cola advertising slogan lasts just two years and two months. And the CMO’s tenure is just as long. The average BusinessWeek ad campaign lasts just two years and six months.
Obama's presidential campaign has a lot of useful lessons that the advertising community can learn.
1. Simplicity.
About 70% of the US population believe their country is going in the wrong direction. So Obama focused on just one word: “change.” “Why haven’t other talented politicians like Clinton done it, and why is US Senator John Edwards even considering using that term?
In my experience, the word “change” is a simple idea that gets results. Executives often look for “smart” advertising concepts.
Here are examples of slogans published in BusinessWeek:
- Chicago Graduate School of Business: “Triumph in your moment of truth.”
- Darden School of Business: “High touch. High tone. High energy.”
- Salesforce.com: “Your future is looking up.”
- Zurich : “Because change happenz.”
- CDW: “The right technology. Right away.”
- Hitachi : “Inspire the next.”
- NEC: “Empowered by innovation.”
- Deutsche Bank: “A passion to perform.”
- SKF: “The power of knowledge engineering.”
Some slogans may be “clever,” some may be inspirational, and some may describe a company’s product line, but none of them have steered their business in the same “transformative” direction as Obama’s. They are not simple slogans.
2. Persistence.
What's wrong with 90% advertising campaigns? Companies often try to “communicate” when they should be “positioning.”
Obama’s goal was not to convey that he was an agent of change. In today’s environment, every politician running for the highest office in the country is pitching himself as an agent of change. What Obama actually did was to repeat the message of “change” over and over again, making potential voters identify the candidate—Obama—with the concept of “change.” In other words, Obama owned the word “change” in voters’ minds.
In today’s media-overloaded society, this needs to be applied and repeated to be effective. For a typical consumer brand, this can require multi-year advertising campaigns costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
Most companies don’t have the resources, patience, or vision to pull off the kind of results Obama has achieved. They jump from message to message, hoping for the magic bullet that will energize their brands. But that hardly works anymore. And it doesn’t work for politicians, either, because it creates vacillation and vacillation—dangerous qualities for anyone trying to climb the political ladder.
There is only one thing that works – and that is BMW’s approach. The carmaker has been consistent for decades.
Of course, that doesn’t go hand in hand with a silly slogan. Hitachi has been “inspiring the next” for a long time, but with little success.
An effective slogan needs to be simple and realistic. What will Hitachi inspire next? Red ink? Over the past ten years, Hitachi has generated $786.9 billion in sales and lost $5.1 billion. When you bet your company name on everything, as Hitachi does, you’re unlikely to make money because it’s hard to build a brand that stands for so many things.
3. Suitability.
“If you lose the war, change the battlefield” is a military adage that can be applied to marketing. By focusing relentlessly on change, Obama changed the “battlefield” and forced his opponents to spend much of their campaign arguing about the “change” they proposed for the country. And what change they proposed would be different from what Obama proposed.
All the talk of “change” has distracted both Clinton and McCain from showcasing their strengths: their campaign rankings, their experience and their relationships with world leaders.
You may not know that Mr. Obama was voted “Marketer of the Year” by Advertising Age magazine's executive panel at the Association of National Advertisers Annual Conference in Orlando last month.
According to advertising age
