The U.S. presidential election is in full swing, and the fawning over Barack Obama continues apace. I was on a panel yesterday for a pilot of a new CBC radio show debuting this fall. The topic was the Obama "brand" and whether he could ever live up to expectations. The two other guests were thoroughly convinced Obama-ites (although one claimed to not be) and endlessly sung his praises.
They also thought the new McCain ads were ineffective, because they apparently break a number of cardinal marketing sins -- namely, that it advertises his opponent more than himself and portrays him as a star.
I respectfully disagree, and think the new ads are pretty clever. They are fun, funny and catchy. They are essentially an avowal by the McCain campaign that they cannot do anything about the effusive media coverage Obama is getting and that the only recourse is to poke fun. It seems odd, but I think they are effective. And it may be working. If all of the national polls are averaged, we have what is essentially a statistical tie. I have said for a while that the chances of either man winning are about 50/50. You would never know from the media coverage, but this is a very close race right now.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:48 PM
