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Brand Obama

by Erika Perry on October 28th, 2008   Comments [2]

As the 2008 presidential campaigns come to a close, it's clear that Obama has managed to leverage sound principles of marketing and design to create a persuasive brand that’s won over the hearts and minds of millions of Americans.

In comparison to typical political campaigns, Obama’s strength is in his consistency—the ability to keep messaging and visuals on brand, whether it’s at a small town hall assembly or a nationally televised stadium rally. As an art director at a communications agency, I know first-hand how challenging this can be when dealing with just one client, let alone tens of thousands of volunteers around the country, the vast majority with no marketing experience. When they speak of Obama running a "disciplined campaign" I’m sure the pundits are not referring to consistent kerning and letterspacing or using the correct Pantone colors, but that kind of large-scale organization and execution found in his campaign clearly communicates what is to be expected with an Obama administration.

This consistency gives credibility to the voice of his campaign and allows voters to feel safe and comfortable. This makes it simple to set expectations and meet them since the voters are now open and willing to listen; the question then becomes, what do we want to say? what are we trying to sell? Here, Obama made some great strategic decisions: unlike most candidates who simply sell themselves, Obama chooses to sell a belief—a hope that we can change:

"I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington … I'm asking you to believe in yours."

This higher-ground inspirational message of empowerment is exactly what today’s brand-conscious consumer is accustomed to and looking for.

All of this physically manifests itself through the aesthetic, the way that voters will experience and absorb the brand first-hand and again, Obama hit the nail on the head. Since most campaign logos just show the name of the candidate along with stars and stripes, they end up interchangeable and never have stopping power or ownability. Obama’s logo also uses some of these elements but rearranges them into a distillation of his campaign—the rising sun represents renewal, rebirth and change while the field of stripes represents the groundedness of the land and the country. The "O" shape itself signifies not only unity and the infinite nature of a communal circle, but conveniently, the first initial of his last name. This symbol becomes the brand; like the swoosh symbol from Nike, the name is unseen yet always present.

Regarding the typography of the campaign, they went with a contemporary typeface, Gotham. Originally designed in 2000 for GQ magazine, it is sleek and elegant, yet straightforward and approachable. And unlike many other popular sans-serif fonts, it was designed by an American, Tobias Frere-Jones of the Hoefler & Frere-Jones type foundry. The secondary typeface used is Requiem, also designed by Frere-Jones but in the style of a traditional humanist serif; this dialectic between the traditional and the contemporary is wholly intentional and absolutely brilliant. It allows this young and “inexperienced” candidate to seem credible and sophisticated enough to represent the traditions of government while at the same time communicating progress, contemporary forward-thinking and visionary ideals.

All of this branding is executed through an expansive advertising campaign that uses not only traditional media outlets but also the most current methods as well (Facebook, Twitter, iPhone apps, advertising inside video games to reach a younger demographic, etc.), and anchored by a sophisticated website that incorporates the latest technology and Web 2.0 user trends.

This comprehensive marketing program is the basis of all good brands (and also won AdAge's 2008 Marketer of the Year award); it's really no surprise that the hopeful and inspirational approach should work right now, in a time of global economic crisis, widespread geopolitical conflict and general uncertainty. People are looking for something, and someone, to believe in; he’s certainly made a believer out of me.

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