Posts Tagged ‘Feingold’

2008 Primaries, Branding Politix, Creative, Messaging, wispundits • March 18th, 2008

Who are you?

by Greg Batiansila

It’s a question the electorate asks of a candidate, a question campaigns work to answer. It’s a question Romney and Hillary haven’t answered clearly - and it’s cost them.

One local adman, Steve Eichenbaum, has shown proven excellence in showing his candidates as a man of the people. It was Eichenbaum who showed Democratic Senator Russ Feingold as a suburban underdog with little money but a lot of honesty and integrity. This election year, he’s developing similar folksy charm for Steve Novick, a Democratic underdog in Oregon.

Should every candidate be cast as a man or woman of the people? Hillary’s handlers have tried it with sometimes damaging consequences. Clearly Barack’s people are comfortable with depicting him as something beyond “everyday.”

In John McCain’s latest advertisement, his campaign has positioned him as a timeless figure – quite the opposite of the everyday man. In the ad, McCain’s words are intercut with images and speeches of some of the greatest leaders in Western history.

The advertisement is brilliantly crafted. Who is John McCain? The ad answers: McCain is Churchill of this era. Where Obama’s strengths focus on his oratory, this advertisement says much without words. Time flies by, the cosmos undulate, it says. Greatness transcends these things. The wonderful shots at the close of the advertisement shot - in lush, cinematic saturated glory, and then melting to what looks like the cosmos - are brilliant.

I give the ad tremendous props for swinging for the fence and answering the age-old political question with gusto. Sometimes when you swing for the fences, however, you just miss.
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2008 Primaries, Messaging, Strategic Blueprints, public relations • February 21st, 2008

Duck! Let the mudslinging begin

by Chris Lato

Here we go.

Now that John McCain is virtually assured the GOP presidential nomination, the New York Times has dusted off some ages-old allegations and placed them on the front page, above the fold.

The honeymoon is over, and McCain is getting his first real taste of Presidential politics, 2008-style. The story has been kicking around for a while, and it appears the Times held off on publishing the piece until after McCain all-but locked down the nomination, under pressure from the McCain camp.

That seems to be a tacit acknowledgment that this story is weak sauce. Otherwise, why not run with it when you had the chance back in December?

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