Obamanomics: You Shall Know His Velocity
Barack Obama is more than just the first Black POTUS. He is also arguably the first Presidential candidate to truly harness the power of the Internet. Howard Dean could have laid claim to that distinction. He was using his website to solicit small donations very effectively, but he failed to react sufficiently when the tools of the information age were used against him. He produced one alarming, non verbal soundbite and he underestimated its power.
Howard Dean was campaigning in a pre-YouTube era. Individual citizens didn’t get to decide what to watch over and over again the way they do now. Television executives were still deciding which moments deserved the ad nauseum treatment and they aired the Dean Scream 633 times over the course of four days. There were already numerous sources of online video in 2004 and the scream became very popular. Game Over.
When YouTube was used against Obama, millions of people got to see old footage of his crazy pastor. Obama didn’t sit around hoping it would blow over. He addressed it in his inimitable style and millions of people got to view that, too. The most striking difference between Obama and 2004’s Kerry (who I actually forgot about entirely at one point this month) was that Obama ALWAYS fought unfair criticism in a fast and hard manner.
With regard to raising funds, he used the successful strategy that Dean pioneered. Obama’s team treated donors and other supporters to a much more personal connection than any campaign before it. Emails were regularly sent out to his huge opt in list. There was also region specific text messaging to people who had provided the campaign with cell phone numbers.
This stuff is fascinating to me. If it interests you, check out the free ebook at Yovia.com
*Apologies to David Eggers for the title swipe.
