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."