What is that is making Obama successful? Is it the charisma or his poise? Perhaps, it is how erudite he is or his impeccable orator skills? It is actually quite simple . . . he has branded himself quite well and he is selling the product like hotcakes.
I studied Political Communication during college and one thing we understand when you sell is that you have to keep your product fresh in your target audience's mind. Why is Obama getting so many youth voters? Because he understands how they operate. If you go to his YouTube page he has over 700 videos that are less than 2 minutes. Quick and easy! He knows that today's youth want to see the video and move on. The message is the same and it is working.
Clinton falls short with just 200 videos and a weak web presence. Obama and his advisers understand the power of social networks and they are implementing a great strategy to expose themselves to a large media market. I have seen more ads by Obama in Texas then Clinton. I have heard more Obama ads on the radio then Clinton. I have interacted with more ad banners on websites then Clinton. He is making it easy for people to become acquainted with his agenda.
The most insightful item though was how he gets people to caucuse. As political junky I did research on how the Texas caucus works. With one click on an Obama ad that showed me where I can vote early, he explained to me in a video how to caucus for him. I attempted the same for Clinton and I was lost. At least she offered to train me as a Precint Captain. The lesson learned is that he is interacting with his viewers causing them to interact back. The ads of the past that only stated facts are over. Obama has capitalized on this scavenger hunt type approach of adverts. He makes it easy to his base to understand how to vote but more importantly why to vote.
Intresting enough, a day later after talking about how I think Obama and his branding has helped him out. Folks around the blogosphere are commenting as well. I did not go so detailed as others may have but at least I noticed the correlation. Check out what Steve Benen has to say.
