What Marketers Can Learn From Obama's Campaign†

Change -- and Positioning -- You Can Believe in

Advertising Age, November 5, 2008 — Nov. 4, 2008, will go down in history as the biggest day ever in the history of marketing.

Take a relatively unknown man. Younger than all of his opponents. Black. With a bad-sounding name. Consider his first opponent: the best-known woman in America, connected to one of the most successful politicians in history. Then consider his second opponent: a well-known war hero with a long, distinguished record as a U.S. senator.It didn't matter. Barack Obama had a better marketing strategy than either of them. "Change."

Clinton's Road to Second Place†

Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2008 — Sen. Hillary Clinton, once positioned to be Democrats'"inevitable nominee," won't be. On Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama won enough delegates to claim the party's presidential nomination.

Inside the Clinton campaign and out, the finger-pointing has begun. The bottom line is this: She called the biggest plays, and she got them wrong.

Still, these people say, Sen. Clinton is responsible for what one confidant called "grievous mistakes." Those help explain why Sen. Clinton — the best brand name in Democratic politics, and an early favorite to be the first female nominee in U.S. history — lost to a relative newcomer who would be the first African-American major-party nominee.