Obama 2008 June 15

MARKETING CASE STUDY SERIES Obama Campaign DRAFT Optional Footer 1 Introduction Background The 2008 presidential election offered a historic opportunity to elect a new kind of leader and America’s first black president. American voters were tired of status quo politics and were looking for a change. The public was dissatisfied with the incumbent party for the mismanagement of American hopes and dreams, with 76% of voters believing that the country was on the wrong track. A promising new candidate came onto the scene. Barack Obama’s charisma, public speaking skills, unruffled demeaner and unique biography captured the attention of voters.

The 2008 campaign was an innovative and fresh approach to politics. Obama’s campaign strategists at AKPD Message and Media had particular expertise in campaign consulting. The team capitalized on Obama’s youth, his personal story, and his ‘clean record’ in the political arena to foster a sense of hope, change, and a new era for America. The campaign outpaced all other candidates in its use of media - in particular social media - to reach current and new voters. In order to win, the campaign targeted all citizens, including previous and likely voters, youth and first-time voters, and previously unregistered non-voters. His inclusive strategy resulted in record- level voting in the primaries and the general election.

Why we chose the 2008 Obama campaign 1) Political campaigns are a unique example of marketing with a one-time indicator of success: whether the candidate was elected or not. Obama’s 2008 campaign is an iconic example of marketing success and one that stands out in the mind of many Americans with a memorable logo and overall message of Hope and Change. 2) There is a wealth of publicly available information on the 2008 Obama campaign including journal articles, marketing analysis, podcasts, books, academic dissertations, and publicly available election data which provide robust analysis of the campaign strategy and strengths. 3) The campaign won many marketing awards, including Advertising Age’s Marketer of the Year award, which had never before been awarded to a political campaign.

Findings and Implications 1) It is possible to successfully target multiple audience segments. A presidential campaign must target multiple audience segments to be successful. The Obama campaign focused on all 50 states and multiple types of voters. The approach was successful because the overall idea, “A Change We Can Believe In,” unified all voter segments, and the campaign had the human, financial, and technological resources required to effectively reach all audience segments. 2) Single-minded, consistent messaging pays off. It can be tempting to use multiple messages, or to change messaging midway through a campaign, but the campaign resisted this approach and selected instead one message “Change We Can Believe In.” It stuck to this message throughout the campaign. As John Quelch wrote in How Better Marketing Elected Barak Obama, “… the discipline to be consistent in positioning and message strategy are core to all successful marketing campaigns. Ads that dealt with specific policy issues, even ads criticizing McCain, all continued to communicate the core themes.”1 3) A powerful brand vision can inspire passion and advocacy among all stakeholders. The Obama campaign exemplifies a heart & mind opening message: “A Change We Can Believe In” inspired a diverse range of audience segments to vote in unprecedented numbers. 4) Marketing is a strategic, leadership function. The marketing and media teams reported directly to Obama’s campaign manager and were integrated into other teams (technology, grassroots, research, etc.DRAFT), enabling marketing and media to influence decision-making and resulting in highly integrated, nimble teams.

(1) Quelch, John, “How Better Marketing Elected Barak Obama, Harvard Business Review, November 5, 2008 Cover Image by Shepard Fairey Overall Assessment Excellent Good Poor Insufficient data

Area Description Findings Assessment

The Obama campaign relied on a “50-state strategy” that recognized the unique identities and needs of Americans across and within all geographies. Audience segments included previous and likely voters, energized youth, first-time voters, Audience Identification unregistered voters, etc. The campaign messaging was designed to create a shared identity across voters as Americans with a common dream of a better country – the American dream. Obama far outperformed his competition in cultivating a deep audience understanding through a variety of online and in- person channels. While Obama supporters were more likely to use the internet at baseline, his team capitalized on this opportunity to collect extensive data on his target audience and to tailor messaging that converted “maybe” voters into Audience Audience Understanding grassroots activists. A team of data analysts collected more than the typical demographic data to direct their efforts. For Focus example, they would analyze voter posts on Facebook to understand their values and lifestyle at a deeper level (e.g., whether someone owns a pet or plays sports) and would use that information to provide appropriate content from Obama (for example, photos of Obama with animals or playing basketball). The insight – that American voters may be disengaged from politics or frustrated with current political leaders, but they still believed in the potential of achieving American dream (and Barack Obama represented that potential) -- meets our criteria for Insight a best-in-class insight. It has tension, it is true but not obvious, it strikes an emotional chord, and it inspires the audience to think differently about politics and voting. The vision for Obama’s campaign was simple, clear, and – in the context of candidate Barak Obama’s historic campaign -- Brand Vision – inspiring: ”Change we can believe in.” By leaving the idea of “change” open-ended, the campaign invited all Americans to fil- Clarity & Relevance Brand in-the-blank with the type of change that they wanted to see in their own lives. Strategy Brand Identity – Distinctive, Everything about the brand look and feel communicated the brand vision of change in a way that also brought to life the Vision Reflects the Brand Vision, Has a personality of candidate Obama – youthful, optimistic, modern, and informality. The brand identity and overall campaign was Personality, and Executed remarkably consistent and was recognized in the advertising community for its strength in this area. Consistently DRAFT

3 Overall Assessment

Area Description Findings Assessment

The benefit – change we can believe in – is clear, as it was concise and repeated consistently. It was relevant because it Benefit Clarity, Relevance, and spoke to the hearts and minds of a frustrated, disengaged electorate. And it was believable, because candidate Obama Believability himself represented change: he brought youth, racial diversity, and an outsider’s perspective, and yet he also had many of the credentials often desired in a president (a prestigious education, a successful legal career, and experience in the Senate). Touches the Heart and / or The message of Hope and Change encouraged voters to think and feel differently about the future of America. Opens the Mind The marketing vehicles relied heavily on technology such as email, websites, and social media, which enabled candidate Continuity and Marketing Obama to reach an unprecedented number of younger voters. The campaign also used mass media and door-to-door Campaign Vehicle Selection marketing with grassroots volunteers to recapture voters who were not on social media. We did not evaluate continuity, as a Strategy presidential campaign is, by definition, limited to a specific time-frame. A young and fresh take on the campaign sought to delight voters by using technology to their advantage with YouTube Audience Delight videos, celebrity endorsements and other engaging means of communication. The Obama campaign drove significantly higher levels of social media engagement vs. McCain because it was highly relevant to the audience that was active on social media, it created a large amount of social media content, it outspent the McCain Audience Engagement team ($8M vs. $2.5M), and it engaged the audience not as the “audience” but as part of a movement. Historically, election winners have been those that understood and harnessed the latest media and technology to engage the electorate and raise funds. With social media, Obama did just that. DRAFT

4 Overall Assessment

Area Description Findings Assessment

While we did not have data on marketing quality assessments conducted by the team, we do note that the campaign Message Effectiveness was recognized for its use of digital – and particular its ability to test and refine messages. The campaign also won several well-known awards for marketing excellence. Political campaigns have a one-time indicator of success. Obama’s win in 2008 showed the overall success of his Program Results marketing campaign. Measurement According to the Times/CBS polls, Obama had the highest favorability of any first term presidential candidate in the Brand Performance prior 28 years. At 53%, Obama had the highest favorability of any first term presidential candidate in the prior 28 years.1 Data also suggested that he was associated with the ideals of his campaign – a fresh face with new ideas. There was an incredibly high level of employee engagement within the campaign staff as well as the army of Marketing Vehicle Effectiveness volunteers that ultimately helped Obama to win the election. Volunteers were fired up and excited about being a part of this historic campaign.

Organizational Structure Data not available

The media and marketing team had a ”direct line” to the campaign manager and were integrated across all Processes & Decision-making departments. The campaign hired highly qualified and motivated people. In addition to an “inner circle” of experts, Obama listened Governance to and acted upon feedback from his many constituents. This meant that decision-making was nimble and made within a small team, but drew upon advice from a wider audience. People & Capacity Also, while not formally “employees,” Obama’s army of volunteers was a passionate workforce went above and beyond – fundraising, going door to door, hosting events, etc. to elect the candidate. Rewards & Incentives Data notDRAFT available

5 Marketing Best Practices Detailed Assessment DRAFT

6 Marketing Best Practices – Audience Focus

Audience Identification

Audience Understanding – unspoken as well as spoken

Insight

Audience Brand Campaign Measurement Governance Focus Strategy Strategy

DRAFTResults Excellent Audience Identification

A successful political campaign must appeal to multiple audiences. In order to win the primary and the general election, Obama needed to: • Appeal to existing voters • Engage new voters • Register previous ”never voters” The campaign also needed a “50-state strategy” that recognized the unique identities and needs of Americans across and within all geographies. The campaign was successful in reaching multiple audiences because it developed a shared identity among all voters – as Americans with a common dream of a better country.

“Young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled — Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of red states and blue states: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.”

- "Transcript: 'This Is Your Victory," CNN DRAFT 8

8 Audience Understanding Excellent

The Obama campaign made extensive use of meta-data to drive tailored messaging, and relied on more than simple demographic data to disentangle geography and politics. Obama outperformed his competition in cultivating a deep audience understanding through a variety of online and in-person channels. While supporters were more likely to use the internet at baseline, Obama’s team capitalized on this opportunity to collect extensive data on his target audience and their social media habits, among other data points, to tailor messaging that converted “maybe” voters into grassroots activists. A team of data analysts collected more than the typical demographic data to direct their efforts. For example, they would analyze voter posts on Facebook to understand their values and lifestyle at a deeper level (e.g., whether someone owns a pet or plays sports) and would use that information to provide appropriate content from Obama (for example, photos of Obama with animals or playing basketball).

Data Analysts working inside “The Cave”. Obama joining his “Campaign Army” in Colorado a DRAFTweek before election day in 2008. Image Retrieved from: Pacific Standard. Photo: Scout Tufankjian/Polaris 9

9 Excellent Insight

Similar to many of the cases we evaluated, we did not find an example of the “audience insight” in our research on the 2008 Obama campaign; however, in studying the campaign, it is easy to see how belief in the American Dream, represented in candidate Obama, made for a compelling insight that meets our criteria: it has tension, it is true but not obvious, it strikes an emotional chord, and it inspires the audience to think and feel differently (e.g., to engage in the election and vote for Obama).

Insight American voters may be disengaged from politics or frustrated with current political leaders, but they still believe in the potential of achieving the American Dream – and candidate Obama represents that dream.

BAM360 team criteria for an audience insight

It has tension It is true but not It strikes an It inspires the obvious emotional audience to think or chord feel differently DRAFTYES YES YES YES Image Retrieved from: WatchingAmerica.com 10

10 Marketing Best Practices – Brand Strategy

Brand Vision – Clarity & Relevance

Brand Identity – Distinctive, Reflects Brand Vision, Has a Personality, and is Executed Consistently

Audience BrandBrand Campaign Measurement Governance Focus StrategyStrategyDRAFTStrategy Results Brand Vision – Clarity & Relevance Excellent

Obama’s campaign articulated a clear vision – change – and committed to consistently articulating this vision throughout the campaign. The candidate himself rarely waivered on any of his statements and had a clear focus on what type of president he would be and how he would work with and for the American people.

The are many aspects that made the campaign highly relevant. Among them: (1) the overall idea of realizing the American Dream, represented by candidate Barack Obama, tapped into a deep emotional belief for many Americans; (2) the campaign message, “Change we can believe in,” was open-ended, allowing all Americans to fill- in-the-blank with the type of change that they wanted to see in their own lives; (3) the campaign rally, “Yes, We Can” gave the audience a way to participate in a positive message. DRAFT 12 Obama’s Presidential Announcement Speech, 2007 Obama’s articulation of his vision for change begins at 7:40 Images: CNN Campaigns We Can Believe In, 2015 Excellent Brand Identity Everything about the brand look and feel communicated the brand vision of change in a way that also brought to life the personality of candidate Obama – youthful, optimistic, modern, and informality. The brand identity and overall campaign was remarkably consistent and was recognized in the advertising community for its strength in this area.

Distinctive: Obama’s campaign look and feel were distinctive compared to those Reflects brand vision: The campaign logo of other candidates. The logo and slogan were consistent and modern and brought the brand vision to life. It features a reflected the candidate’s youthful and optimistic personality. sunrise, signaling a new era or new horizon. The design is simple and modern, yet features patriotic colors that evoke a sense of traditional a values.

“Our signs don’t say Obama. They say hope.” –Obama at a campaign rally in Iowa Image: Sender LLC

Executed consistently: The campaign's "remarkable consistency is the real Has a personality: A accomplishment... Across towns, counties, states -- and with thousands of volunteers, no campaign will likely have less -- across multiple media platforms, they've managed to drive a potent, single-minded the personality of the design and messaging coherence that should shame many national brands. I mean, this is candidate, making this close to a level of design strategy from a great brand like Nike or Target.”1 aspect of the best practice more straight- The Shujaaz.fm radio show kicks off each program forward than other with a unique sound that suggests DJ B is brands. Nonetheless, searching for a radio frequency. there is an element of youth, optimism, modernity, and lack of formality that is communicated by the candidate and the brand DRAFTidentity alike. image retrieved from: Black Economic Development

(1) Wheaton, Ken, “Barak Obama, Adaptable Team Stays on Message While Using Social Networking to Build Voter Roles,” Ad Age, October, 2008 13 Marketing Best Practices – Campaign Strategy

Benefit – Clear, Relevant, and Believable

Touches the Heart and / or Opens the Mind

Continuity and Marketing Vehicle Selection

Delights the Audience

Engages the Audience

Audience BrandBrand Campaign Measurement Governance Focus StrategyStrategyDRAFTStrategy Results

14 Campaign Strategy 3 Excellent Excellent Because there was only one Obama marketing campaign for the 2008 election, the analysis in this section is not significantly different from the overall brand analysis. For the sake of simplicity, we have summarized most of the campaign elements in the table below.

Best Practice Description

The benefit – change we can believe in – was clear, as it was concise and repeated consistently. It was relevant because it spoke to the hearts and minds of a frustrated, disengaged electorate. And it was believable, because candidate Obama Benefit Clarity, Relevance, and himself represented change: he brought youth, racial diversity, and an outsider’s perspective, and yet he also had many of Believability: the credentials often desired in a president (a prestigious education, a successful legal career, and experience in the Senate).

The message of change was left open-ended so that voters could insert their own version of what change they wanted to Mind and Heart Opening: see. The message inspired voters to think and feel differently about what the future of America could look like if they elected Barack Obama as president.

Because a presidential campaign runs for a limited time period, we did not consider this best element of the practice. The campaign used a variety of marketing vehicles and was recognized as “a masterful combination of new media, door to door, and community grassroots campaigning, with a clever tactical use of TV advertising.1” Obama was at the forefront of Continuity and Marketing Vehicle technology compared to other candidates. Through use of social media, the campaign was able to motivate and energize a Selection: younger generation who had previously never engaged in politics. While older voters who didn’t engage with technology may have been left behind, anecdotal evidence suggests that Obama was able to engage these populations through other platforms such as door-to-door visits, emails, and traditional mass media. Innovative use of technology and social media to entertain, to bring a modern approach to politics, and to engage Delight: communities in a more strategic way. The campaign engaged its target audience in a youthful and fresh way through YouTube videos, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms. Audience Engagement: See slideDRAFTon the following page.

1) The Guardian, June 2009. 15 Excellent Brand Vision – Audience Engagement

The Obama campaign drove significantly higher levels of social media engagement vs. McCain because it was highly relevant to the audience that was active on social media, it created a large amount of social media content, it outspent the McCain team ($8M vs. $2.5M), and it engaged the audience not as the “audience” but as part of a movement. Historically, election winners have been those that understood and harnessed the latest media and technology to engage the electorate and raise funds. With social media, Obama did just that.

Social Media Email Relevance: Obama’s personal Facebook page featured a Obama’s emails were one of the main relationship-building tools. Emails young, hip politician whose interests included “basketball,” were tailored based on demographic information and insights from market research. The emails featured a friendly and informal nature that “Bob Dylan,” and “loafing with kids.” McCain’s interests solicited a feeling of camaraderie and collaboration between voters and included “fishing” and the movie “Letters from Iwo Jima.” the candidate. The idea that this was their campaign was underscored throughout communications. People Reached 13M Email Campaigns 7K Messages sent 1B

Measure Obama McCain % Difference FB Followers 2,000,000 600,000 333% Twitter Followers 112,000 4,600 2435% YouTube Subscribers 115,000 28,000 411% YouTube Channel Visits 18,000,000 2,000,000 900% YouTube videos posted 1,800 330DRAFT545%

Source: Michaelson, A. Brand Obama: How Barack Obama Revolutionized Political Campaign Source: Matthew Fraser. The Guardian. Obama’s Win Means Future Elections Must be Fought Online. November 2008. Marketing in the 2008 Presidential Election 16 Marketing Best Practices – Measurement

Message Effectiveness

Program Results

Brand Performance

Marketing Vehicle Effectiveness

AudienceAudience Brand Campaign Measurement Governance FocusFocus Strategy Strategy

DRAFTResults

17 Excellent Message Effectiveness

While we did not have data on marketing quality assessments conducted by the team, we do note that the campaign was recognized for its use of digital – and particular its ability to test and refine messages. The campaign also won several well-known awards for marketing excellence.

"It's the f***in' Web 2.0 thing.” –Jon Fine, Columnist for Business Week Marketing

"I think he did a great job of going from a relative unknown to a "I honestly look at [his] campaign and I look at household name to being a candidate for president.” – Linda it as something that we can all learn from as Clarizio, President AOL’s Platform ADRAFTmarketers," - Angus Macaulay, executive at Rodale Marketing Solutions. 18 Creamer, M. Obama Wins! Ad Age’s Marketer of the Year. October 2017. 5 Excellent Program Results Excellent

Obama captured not only the youth vote, but a surprising share of voters age 45+. While white voters preferred McCain on average, Obama won across every other race/ethnicity. These results show that it is possible to capture the attention of multiple segments of a population with the right message and appropriate resources. % Votes by Age Group % Votes by Race/Ethnicity

Other

65 & over Asian

45-64 Hispanic

African-American 30-44

White 18-29 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 McCain Obama McCain ObamaDRAFT 19 Roper Center. How Groups Voted in 2008. November 2008. Excellent Brand Performance At 53%, Obama had the highest favorability of any first term presidential candidate in the prior 28 years.1 He went from a relatively unknown name to one which was not only well-known by April 2008, but also was associated with the ideals of his campaign. He was seen as a fresh face with new ideas.

Obama McCain

Favorable Unfavorable Favorable Unfavorable impression impression impression impression

53% 33% 36% 45%

A study conducted among registered voters in NYT/CBS News poll Oct 2008 urban areas during the primaries found that Obama had the highest level of Brand Equity as well as A Gallup poll from April 2008 shows that Intention to Vote among the study population. the campaign significantly decreased the Brand Equity in this study was a composite percentage of Americans who were assessment of candidate awareness-association unfamiliar with the candidate (from 30 to strength, perceived quality, and loyalty scale items. 5%) and increased perceptions related to While survey respondents were generally more the campaign’s overall vision (from 7 to familiar with Hillary Clinton, the results show that 13%) Obama’s brand vision was already earning him points even in the early days of the campaign.

Jones, J, Top-of-Mind Candidate Percetions in-Depth. Gallup DRAFTParker, B. Candidate Brand Equity Valuation: A Comparison of U.S. Presidential Candidates Poll. April 2008 During the 2008 Primary Election Campaign

20 Excellent Audience Engagement

Organizational Structure

Processes & Decision making

People & Capacity

Rewards and Incentives

Governance AudienceAudience Brand Campaign Measurement FocusFocus Strategy Strategy

DRAFTResults

22 Processes and Decision-Making

Many pundits attribute Obama’s election success to the nimble and effective team that operated his campaign. A particularly novel and important facet of his processes and decision-making hierarchy was that the media team reported directly to the campaign manager (see below). This allowed for better media integration and more responsive decision-making than if the team had been separated.

The media team was a separate entity, but was integrated David Plouffe directly into the other departments. In the office, work desks Campaign Manager were strategically placed to integrate media and technology into various aspects of the campaign such as grassroots/field team and research.

Obama’s media department was NOT part of the campaign’s tech team. It was an independent branch of the campaign, and Integrated Teams its leadership were involved in top-level planning and decision-making processes.

Joe Rospars Media Team Leader DRAFT Obama Campaign Headquarters, 2008. Image Credit: Paul Smith. Optional Footer 23 People and Capacity

David Plouffe, Campaign Manager

David Axelrod, Media Manager

The 2008 Obama campaign hired highly qualified people for its leadership team, who had an innovative vision for how the campaign Chris Hughes, Social Media should be run. For example, David Plouffe, the campaign manager, had successfully run several re-election campaigns in Iowa and elsewhere and was known as a humble and hardworking strategist with an innovative vision. David Axelrod had been supporting democratic campaigns since the 1980s, including Bill Clinton’s. He had known Obama for several years and had repeatedly tried to convince Obama to run for office. Chris Hughes was a Facebook prodigy who had never intended to create a social movement within the election. However, his vision for creating an online community is arguably one of the greatest accomplishments of the campaign. Finally, Michelle Obama was an integral part of the team advising Barack. She is credited with being the decider on the winning slogan, “Yes, We Can.”

While Obama held frequent meetings with his trusted “inner cabinet,” he was also willing to listen to and incorporate feedback and ideas from a wide circle of advisors and his grassroots “army” of volunteers. The balance between the inner circle and listening to a wider audience allowed the campaign to be nimbleDRAFTwhen making decisions about important matters but to simultaneously have direct access to the “pulse” of the broader public. Michelle Obama 3 People and Capacity, cont. Excellent While not “employees” in the traditional sense, Obama’s army of volunteers were a passionate workforce

Obama’s social media campaign was run by 24-year-old Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook. Hughes created an online platform with mybarackobama.com (“MyBO”) which allowed users to create profiles, connect with other supporters, raise funds, plan events, and blog about politics. In this way, voters became de facto “employees” of the Obama campaign, helping to raise over 30 million dollars and to host 200K events nationwide. The campaign estimated that it had mobilized nearly 6 million volunteers throughout the course of the campaign, all of whom felt a personal connection to the candidate as well as his vision for working together to achieve the American dream.

“’I would show up in a city and not know anyone,’ [an 2 million “MyBO” profiles Obama volunteer] recalls. But she'd be given the 200 thousand offline events name of someone who'd volunteered to let her sleep on their couch. ‘And they'd have me over and have 35 thousand groups Chris Hughes dinner and talk a little and they'd let me stay there for 400 thousand blogs weeks or months at a time and we'd work together on this democracy.’” 30 million dollars raised - NPR: Obama’s Legacy DRAFT 70 thousand personal fundraising pages

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