Brand Marketing Tips by Steve Poppe » barack obama

Joseph Jaffe Kool Aid.

Steve Poppe — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:51:25 +0000

Joseph Jaffe, founder of Crayon, spoke last night at the Brandhackers Meetup in New York City. He was quite good. His third book, coming out February 9th with a title having to do with inverting the funnel, is based on the premise that loyalty is the new acquisition which sounds not only smart but profound. Mr. Jaffe’s current book Join The Conversation is wonderfully named and one he referenced a number of times. What was ironic about the talk, though, was that it was just that — a one-way talk. There were a couple of shows of hands at the beginning to engage but at no point during the event did we actually engage in conversation. Where’s the Kool Aid at?

That aside, Mr. Jaffe was very good at demonstrating how the times have indeed changed. He showed a slide of campaigning Barack Obama in Berlin — a fly speck in front of 300,000 or so admirers. When a close up of the Berlin crowd was shown, Mr. Jaffe pointed out that every person had a camera in hand. Every one. A few had video cameras and one individual was webcasting using a laptop. Talk about sharing the love? Conversation starters to be sure.

Mr. Jaffe made many good points but the one that resonated the most for me was his summary point #3, “Everything starts with strategy.” What pushed strategy to #3 escapes me, but his notion that campaigns come and go but a “commitment to the brand” (idea) is the way forward sealed the deal. Read Jaffe. But better yet, have a conversation with him. Peace!

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We Need a Digital Rights Management Czar.

Steve Poppe — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:49:00 +0000

I wrote an article for Newsday a year ago cautioning Lord and Taylor about their take-over of The Fortunoff Company. Today, for posterity, because Fortunoff recently filed for bankruptcy, I visited Newsday to buy a PDF of the article. (News should always be free in my book, but that’s a story for another day.) With a few extra minutes to play around thanks to my newly repaired Achilles tendon, I ventured into the Terms of Service section of Newsday.com. OMG. It contained 33 paragraphs, 262 lines of text and 2690 words — just about guaranteeing nobody will read it but corporate lawyers and people cloning TOS language for their start-ups.

Here’s the paragraph that floored me:

“You also grant TI (Tribune Interactive) the right to use any material, information, ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques contained in any communication you send to us for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to developing, manufacturing and marketing products using such information. All rights in this paragraph are granted without the need for additional compensation of any sort to you.”

Having been involved in a social media start-up and partially responsible for the Terms of Service and lawyer budget, I can tell you first hand this stuff gets very boggy. It’s a legal sink hole. Had Newsday or Fortunoff taken something from my article and turned it into creative or operationalized it at their stores, do you think my check box TOS agreement would hold up in court? Not likely. You can drive a truck through most Terms of Service mumbo.

Larry Lessig, an amazing mind and founding board member of Creative Commons, has the right idea about this stuff. Were I Barack Obama, I’d take some of that AIG and GM money and appoint Mr. Lessig Digital Rights Management Czar – then I’d give him some serious legislative firepower and charge him with getting digital rights management right. A good law in place, protecting all parties, will save the country billions in legal fees. (Don’t tell the lawyers.) Peace!

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Barack’s Thank You Email.

Steve Poppe — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:10:00 +0000

What’s the idea with Barack Obama winning? Here’s a clue. This is an email he sent out to supporters upon hearing of his election. Note the time:

From: Barack Obama [mailto:info@barackobama.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 12:11 AM
To: Terrence Last Name
Subject: How this happened

Terrence —

I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don’t want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it’s time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing…

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

Remembering to say “thank you” is an important way to build loyalty. Peace!

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Barack’s informerical.

Steve Poppe — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:15:00 +0000

Two days ago, I suggested Barack Obama’s infomercial was a mistake. Well, the people have spoken and I was wrong. Over 33 million viewers tuned in to CBS, NBC, Fox and cable to watch. The media cost to air the informercial was about 3 million dollars, which I find hard to believe since a 30-second Super Bowl spot goes for $2 million+ and delivers less than twice the viewers.

Here’s the big question: Were the 33 million+ viewers Obama voters, John McCain voters, or undecideds? In marketing, new incremental volume is always an important measure. Loyal customers need care and feeding but new customers are a key growth metric. If Barack’s investment reached only his loyal followers then it probably wasn’t a great idea. But if the audience was a cross section of the population, as I suspect it was, then it was. (Can’t you just see some pro-McCain people quickly changing the channel as their spouses walked in the room?) Mea culpa. Peace!

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Obama. Underdog or overdog?

Steve Poppe — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:30:00 +0000

Barack Obama’s staff’s decision to run a half-hour infomercial tonight on the 4 broadcast television stations is a mistake. It takes him from underdog to overdog. All the American’s who listen to Sarah Palin go on about how the media handles Obama with kid gloves will have another arrow in their quiver. Unfairly, they will feel the networks are subsidizing Obama and it will make them angry, steeling their resolve against him.

The populace may be tired of political ads, but it is certainly familiar with them as a campaign tool. A roadblock half-hour infomercial, on the other hand, is a new and heavy-handed tactic. I’m sure the film will be pretty, the choreography and prose wonderful and inspiring, but it feels like a bull rush, heavy-spend tactic inappropriate for these difficult economic times.

How about Senator Obama come out and cancel the show and note in a press release that all the money is going into a fund to kick-start his health program? That’s what an underdog would do. Peace!

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Barack and Hilary. Hillary and Barack.

Steve Poppe — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:58:00 +0000

If you have been watching any of the democratic debates lately you have been treated to some serious sparing between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Nobody really likes the mudslinging which often results in a draw, but I have to wonder why so much time is reserved for this sort of McNasty campaigning? And why does the media focus on it so?

Here’s my take. As nasty as it is, and as petty as some of the points and counterpoints are, I think it gives us a view into the candidates under pressure. Do they remain cool? Do they stumble? Do they loose sight of their strategic vision or do they get embroiled in the tactical piss-fest? Who looks ready to crack, America ask. All other policy things being relatively equal, I look to these moments to help me understand who acts “presidential” under pressure and who is wired best to handle the pressure-packed job.

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