Sunday, September 14, 2008

A New Take on Political Advertising & My Guilty Pleasure: 'The Blog'

It’s fair to say that I know more about the American presidential nominees than I do about our own Canadian counterparts. I was halfway around the world during the preliminary elections last year and more in tune with what was happening in the United States than during the last Canadian election.

So, I have a confession; I have a secret, guilty pleasure: ‘the blog’.

Okay, so I’m a super-super dork! But I guess it explains how I’ve been able to keep up-to-date with all the latest political news. I have to wonder whether bloggers ever sleep though because despite an 8 hour time difference, which would make it 3am Eastern standard time, the informational relay is instantaneous.

Anyway, one day I was on PerezHilton.com (a more gossip-oriented blogger) and was reading his latest post about Halle Berry wearing a “Barack the Vote” tee. Until then, I hadn’t paid much attention to the Democratic nominee (Barack Obama-to clarify) and perhaps it was the quirky tee that caught my interest but there I was with my interest fully captured. And so, I began to muse, whether Halle knew it or not, her and the bloggers, that capitalized on her every move, were changing the game of politics. They were in the midst of a completely unsanctioned advertising campaign.

Considering that Obama and McCain are going to spend just over $3 billion USD on television ads this election, I had to wonder just how influential those ads would be in luring the young voters, especially in a society dominated by ‘cool’. Halle was cool and her name attached to a presidential nominee’s campaign was nothing short of stellar advertising.

Would a classic ‘bash the other candidate’ TV ad be ‘in’ with today’s cool obsessed society?

Consider this: Blogger Perez Hilton has over 9 million hits on his website daily (with what, is safe to assume, a majority of voting eligible users), that’s over 9 million people who in the very least scanned Will.I.Am’s “Yes We Can”, a 3-minute celebrity-packed musical endorsement for Barack Obama and then read about Hilton’s ‘hurrah’ for the Democratic candidate.

Every ‘hit’ adds fuel to the fire, reminding users to vote Obama. While the true influence of blogs may never be measured, they have undeniably become a mainstream marketing medium. This is the first election that blogs have such a dominant sway in cultivating opinions regarding political candidates. The effect of the blog may become more significant than magazine and television ads, for blogs are updated regularly, present individual opinions and invite user comments. That is a massive amount of information to register.

It’s sort of incredible and yet scary to think, that even a small majority of the American voting public is being influenced by the fashion choices of Halle Berry and tall-tales of the Garner-Affleck’s’ night out with the Obama’s, but there it is: the ‘cool’ factor seeping its way into American politics. While Hilton’s merciless obsession with Hollywood may be entertaining, is it okay that voters are being bombarded by him? I’m not saying that everyone will run out to vote for Obama just because he has the obvious support of one blogger and some Hollywood elite, but it’s clear that Obama has become the ‘it’ thing of the moment.These are just some thoughts I wanted to share.

I guess we’re game now too: We’re not here to do any of McCain’s bidding, instead we will be bringing you the most current marketing news that affects and interests you! Let us know what you think!

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