1. Building the Obama Brand:
New Media Electioneering
October 15, 2009

2. About me
• Millward Brown, Head of Global
Digital Development
• From Chicago, IL the home of
Barack Obama
• Former Managing Director of
Dynamic Logic in US and Europe
• Over a decade of experience
working in new media
• Worked on online effectiveness
research for Kerry (2004) and
Obama (2008) presidential
campaigns

3. Challenge: a two‐year product launch
• Low Obama brand
awareness
• Compared to Hilary
Clinton not many
Americans knew about
him or what he stood
for
• His likelihood to win
even the Democratic
nomination was highly
unlikely
3

4. Building the Obama brand
Ideal =
Brand Culture
Consistent Message
“Slogan”
“Consumer” Base
4

5. Evolution of the message
“Change We Can Believe In”
“Change We Need”
“Change”
5

6. The Obama campaign organization
• Made new media a priority from the beginning
• New media was not within Communication or Paid
Media divisions and had equal voice
• Not only a big staff within New Media, but also the
best in the business
Barack Obama
Campaign
Manager
Corres Field New Media Paid Media Operations Finance Policy Communications
170 New
Media Staff
6

7. Mobilizing the Obama brand
• New media was used to create awareness,
support and involvement among the voting
community
Outcomes:
• Database of 13 million supporters and voters
• Raised $650 million in funds contributed by
3.1 million supporters
– Doing the math...majority of contributions were
less than $200
• 5 million volunteers
• 5 million friends on various social networks

8. Obama: Marketer of the Year in 2008
Marketer % of votes
Obama 36.1%
Apple 27.3%
Zappos 14.1%
Nike 9.4%
Coors 8.7%
McCain 4.5%

9. Successful marketing practices
1. Message was Focused and Consistent
2. Supporters were the Centerpiece of
the campaign
3. Communications were Nimble and
Timely
4. Compelling Content was the center of
all new media activities
5. Testing, Measurement and
Optimization were key parts of the
communication process

10. Focus and consistency
Obama’s
Speech on
• Adhered to consistent Health Care
brand, look and feel
and message
• David Plouffe’s “A Offline Health Volunteers
belief in alignment” Advertising
about Care in Talking to
Voters about
Health Care Health Care
• Only delivered Chicago, IL
content that they
knew their supporters
Internet
would value Advertising
about
Health Care
10

11. Supporters were the centerpiece
“The campaign’s new media strategy, inspired
by popular social networks, has revolutionized
the use of the web as a political tool”
‐ New York Times
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12. Nimble and timely communication
• Able to react quickly to
breaking news
• Palin’s “community
organizer comment”
– Campaign was able to launch
a fundraising email within a
couple of hours or Palin’s
speech
• Content uploaded to the
web vs. traditional media
outlets reporting on the
story
12

13. Compelling content
“Tools are a frying pan. If the ingredients
(the content) aren’t tasty, you’re going to
have a horrible dinner”
Scott Goodstein – External Online Director, OFA
13

14. Testing, measurement and optimization
• The new media campaign was data‐driven operation
with a six person analytics team
• Always in touch with peoples’ opinions
• Tested and measured different aspects of the new
media program
– Voter segmentation studies
– Pre‐market testing
– In‐market testing
– Online conversions – sign ups, contributions
– Website usability
• For new media, the research tools and techniques
needed to be fast and flexible
14

15. Pre‐testing
• Pre testing was used for most
new media creative before it
was used in market
• Testing timelines were very
demanding with results
delivered within 24 hours
100% Creative Norm 75%
80% 63% 69%
60% 40% 46%
40% 33%
20%
0%
Tell Others About Believability Issue Importance
15

16. In‐market effectiveness
• Study found that this campaign
reached 60% of its intended
target
Females ages 35-65 years
Females
Metrics ages 35-65
Point Change
Association: John McCain banning all
+24.6*
abortions in America
Barack Obama Favorability (Top Box) +10.3*
John McCain Favorability (Top Box) -10.6*
John McCain Support Intent -18.9*
Sample Size
16

17. Website usability and layouts
“Sign Up” “Donate and Learn More”
“Join Us” “Join Us and Learn More”
17

18. Conversion analysis
18

19. New media strategy and tactics
1. Used Internet for gathering supporter
information
2. Used Internet for fundraising
3. Used Internet to attract and organize
volunteers
4. Online video and targeted display was
instrumental in the campaign
5. The use of email, mobile and social
media for quick communication and
high reach

20. Strategy: Gather voter information
Email Mobile
Flickr Search
Facebook YouTube
Mybarackobama.com
Twitter and Barackobama.com Display
Database of 13 million supporters
20

21. Strategy: Online Fundraising
21

22. Tactic: Mybarackobama.com
• 2 million profiles
• 200k events organized on the site
• 35k volunteer groups were created
• 70k people raised more than $30 million on their
personal fundraising pages

23. Tactic: Social networking
• Facebook: 3 million friends, more than 500 groups,
300+ applications
• MySpace friends: 900k
• Twitter followers: 128k
23

24. Tactic: Targeted display advertising
• Targeted messages by location, interest and
demography
• Thousands of different creative versions
24

25. Tactic: YouTube and online video
• Over 140k Obama related clips were uploaded; 2k
were official
• 15 million hours of Obama related clips were viewed
prior to election

26. Tactic: Targeted email
• 1 billion emails with over 7k unique messages
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27. Tactic: Mobile and text messaging
• Anytime, anywhere
• 1 million signed up for
text alerts
• Vice President
notification via text
message and email
27

28. Obama’s success was NOT all about
new media...
28

29. It was about PEOPLE
“There’s nothing more valuable than a
human being talking to a human being.
Nothing”
David Plouffe – Obama Campaign Manager
29

30. And a very special person...
2009 Nobel Peace Prize
30

31. What we can learn as marketing
professionals
1. Be consistent
2. Be local, then go global
– Start at the grass roots level and build
from there
3. Empower and engage your consumers
4. Actively respond to negative/bad
press
5. Brand relationships do not end with a
“purchase”
31

32. Building the Obama Brand:
New Media Electioneering
October 15, 2009