Creative Campaigning

Politics…A fine example of the power shift from marketer to you, the consumer. Digital communication platforms have made it exponentially easier to express your voice. Being famous helps. Celebrities and artists are certainly taking cues from the digital world to share their views.

You’ve no doubt heard the “Yes We Can” song by will.i.am. I love it…so full of hope. It also makes me glad to see Kareem Abdul Jabar back in front of the camera. His performance in Airplane(!) was dynamite.

Sarah Silverman has an interesting angle with her Great Schlep campaign. She’s recruiting Jewish youth to reach out to their grandparents in that dicey sunshine state we call Florida.

But let’s say you’re not famous. You can post a piece of sh*t YouTube ranting vid that will get seen by a handful of people, mostly friends. But if you instead say something smart (or unique), and you say it in a creative way, your voice will be heard (witness the crush-heavy tune by Obama Girl).

Something to Think About: Who are your grandparents voting for? Seriously. We hear so much talk of the youth vote. What about the geriatric vote? Unless marketers are pushing Depends or meds, they aren’t interested in the silver-haired generation. They don’t fall into many core demographics. So why not call your grandma up right now. She’ll be happy to hear from you, and you may just help decide the fate of our country. Fancy that.

Brand America

I went to a symposium last night titled “America’s Role in the World: Looking Beyond the Election.” Pollster John Zogby, Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Ambassador Nancy Soderberg discussed the two “generations” represented in this presidential race. In one corner is the old paradigm: honor, sacrifice and duty. The (younger) fighter across the ring boasts diversity, multilateralism and change.

These divergent ideas of what our country tis of thee stands for are competing for center stage at a time when America’s standing in the world is oh, so low.

The event was sponsored by Business for Diplomatic Action, brainchild of ad legend Keith Reinhard (full disclosure: I interned there a few years back). BDA focuses on what individuals and businesses can do to improve relations overseas.

One of last night’s points worth repeating is that the world doesn’t resent our involvement as much as it resents the way we are involved – i.e., we lead by arrogance or force rather than by collaboration and, ahem, listening. Politics aside, there are a lot of cool things businesses can do to improve cross-cultural understanding. Folks in communications or advertising are in a unique position to influence how our country is perceived. I’m not talking about “selling” America. I’m saying we should think more about how our actions affect the pervasiveness of our culture around the world…and what that says about us.