Obama - strategy discussions online
A lot has been written about the online strategies of Barack Obama’s campaign team, in particular in their ability to drive grassroots support and donations from thousands of supporters. (See our own posts here and here).
One of the latest outputs from the team is an open briefing to supporters by David Plouffe, Campaign Manager. He’s recorded a short video of himself and some powerpoint slides that detail the upcoming campaign strategy and what’s required if they are to beat John McCain.
I think the video is worthy of a mention as it’s a great example of an organisation moving from polished advertising messages to raw, uncut conversations aimed at driving community engagement.
For fifty years presidential candidates have carefully crafted their messages and tried to give a sense of Teflon-coated invulnerability. Yet here is the campaign manager having a quick chat into the camera. He’s filmed in poor light, from his office chair, in casual clothes.
Now I am not saying this message hasn’t been carefully crafted, I am sure it has. In fact they probably tested different versions with a private online research community to get feedback before sending it out to everyone. But it’s the fact they have chosen to go with an unpolished, real-world feel that I find most interesting and that makes the video engaging.
Also worthy of note is that despite this being a two-horse race, despite the fact that McCain’s people will be keen to pour over the strategies mentioned here, they have still published it for all to see. They know the impact on their own advocates will outweigh the benefit to McCain’s troops. That’s a pretty bold move, but it’s what his campaign has been about all along.
This video is a great example of someone who has embraced the open, straight talking nature of the web to create real engagement and dialogue.
