Politics & Personal Branding

How the public receives information is constantly changing from generation to generation thanks to advances in technology.  John F. Kennedy gained popularity with the new medium, television.  The same strategy was applied in the 2008 election. Thanks to Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and various social media outlets Obama rose from an unknown candidate to a household name.

The Chapter pointed out that the Obama campaign used social media to target a large audience at a low to no cost. Obama was able to help fund the campaign using donations received from his social media followers. Because his competitors were well known and would dominate the other forms of media, the Obama campaigned decided to utilize social media, and this caused him to capitalize on his opponents’ weakness.  The statistics showed in this chapter the wide spread between the amounts of views, likes, followers Obama had compared to McCain various social media outlets. Using social media is at little to no cost for the users. 

When some Obama supporters also took it upon themselves to endorse the candidate, this too was at no cost to the Obama campaign. Obama did not endorse these advertisements financially however he did not have them pulled either.  With social media as the new medium the message spread fast and to a large audience. The following tongue in cheek ads even became a part of pop culture. 

Remember this Amber Lee Ettinger, (aka “Obama Girl”)?

Or maybe you remember the “Wassup Change” video from the creator of the Budweiser “Wassup” commercials?

Hip-hop artist Ludacris came out with a song in which the lyrics were controversial and extremely offensive.  This left Obama at a crossroads.  Ludacris took control of the Obama brand by promoting the candidate in his lyrics while verbally attacking Obama’s opponents, in very poor taste. If Obama didn’t speak out against the lyrics his silence could be seen that he was condoning this message.  On the other hand Obama wanted the support of the hip-hop community.

By not speaking out a wrong message could be sent to the public. Even though Obama didn’t endorse the lyrics and give permission for the use of his name in the lyrics he needed to take back control of his personal brand.    Obama came out with a statement calling the lyrics “outrageously offensive”.

Social media can be used to promote a product as well as personal branding.  But as we discussed in chapter three what happens when supporters take control of your own brand and brag about or bash your own product?  As the Obama campaign later found out, when supporters that take ownership of your brand and promote it too aggressively the situation can become a double-edged sword.