The political ad season has begun making it clear that Halloween is not the only scary thing in October. While all political ads are not all propaganda, the majority of them that gain the majority vote are. Sadly enough, what I call "Maniacal Political Marketing" seems to work for many who use it. The first six letters of maniacal spells "maniac" and some of the tactics being used my politicians to gain an edge are absolutely nuts. When watching the Perry ad about Romneycare I could have sworn I was looking a movie tailer for the next big horror film. It was so dramatic it gave me a craving for popcorn with extra movie theater butter. The fact of the matter is that people are visual, auditory, and emotional. This type of dramatic advertising is effective because it stirs up the emotions in the subconscious mind that in turn ignite human emotion thus provoking action on the part of many viewers.
Again we see in the Romney for President ad on the Obama Misery Index an approach that is used to touch the human essence and tie into emotion, just in a less dramatic way. If you go to a foreign country the best way to communicate is in the language of the land you are visiting. This ad used a real person to speak in a language that many that are suffering economically can relate to and understand. I think this ad would have been just as effective if it used the same interview, but focused on how Romney has an open ear to this specific community telling people how he will work to make things better rather than painting Obama in a negative light. President Obama needs to accomplish several things in his ads: 1.) He needs to vividly display and focus on any and all progress that has been made in America under his leadership, 2.) He must keep the positive momentum of the message of hope and unity in this country, and 3.) He will have to prove why he is worthy of 4 more years on the throne in Washington by creating and communicating a trademark vision for our country's future. Obama will have to advertise the New American Dream with veracity, integrity, and performance. His job is cut out for him which is to keep his current supporters while managing to gain new ones; this is tactical and strategic marketing combined with customer relationship management and retention speaking in business terms. Obama has to plant new seeds that will grow along side what he has already accomplished. President Obama's first 2012 campaign ad does in fact highlight his accomplishments so far, poses him as a man of honor, power, and courage, displays a message of unity and hope, shows him as a fun-loving everyday type person you would want to be friends with, and is forward reaching by stating that America needs more change that should occur under his leadership. The ad did give me a warm fuzzy feeling which was killed by him riding on the democratic donkey followed by a rainbow at the end. I liked the ad overall, but felt the ending piece was a little cheesy.
The massive amount of information that can be communicated in thirty seconds or less is nothing short of amazing. What I learned about Michelle Bachmann in twenty-eight seconds was probably as much as I would have learned listening to her deliver a forty-five minute speech. I learned that she comes from a long heritage of Iowans and that she was born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa. She's a mother of five which includes being a foster mother. Michelle has worked to create small business jobs and believes that our government has to stop spending money that it doesn't. I found out that Michelle Bachmann is a former tax lawyer and she was against the bailouts and stimulus that have occurred in America. She firmly stated that she will not vote to increase the debt ceiling again, and she is confident that her campaign is unified to defeat Obama. Michelle Bachmann is not afraid to broadcast her position on the economic issues of this country. When looking back at Perry's, Romney's, Bachmann's, and Obama's ads I would have to say that they were all effective in different ways. It is funny because I think the conservative's ads were more liberal and liberal's ads were more conservative. Perry and Romney formed nooses for their opponents with their ads in different ways while Bachmann and Obama projected the feel good ads that boosted up who they are as people with little sparkles almost coming from their accomplishments.
President Obama plugged into the power of social media during the 2008 Presidential Election with astounding results. I believe what we are seeing now in social media entities stepping into the political realm is an inevitable evolution of technology in politics. While there are two main political parties in America there is only one American Eagle that represents freedom, strength, and grandeur. Birds of a feather do flock together and Twitter is now rubbing shoulders, or should I say wings with our inspiring feathered friend that serves as our nation's emblem. It makes perfect sense; it makes social sense. For politicians it is going to make dollars and cents. "The early bird gets the worm," on Twitter and other social media sites. Twitter already has an "I will follow you" mentality so it is a good place to be as a presidential candidate or any other type of political candidate. Social media is where people are today and with the sense of community it offers it is the right place to reach both active and passive voters. Facebook is all about connecting, friending, fanning, and liking, and it is where a candidate that wants to present themselves as a real person needs to be. I still think that television will provide a huge platform for political advertising especially to reach passive voters and while I say this we must keep in mind that people are now watching television on the Internet. With a lot of people embracing Netflix to watch their favorite movies and shows, I wonder how long it will be before Netflix gets in on the political advertising circuit. In any case, I think the social media political ads are an excellent strategy and something that was bound to happen. Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Youtube are becoming huge political platforms with political savvy staff members on board; I'm glad that these social media entities are not partisan as they remain neutral in political matters working only as an avenue for information and communication. I'm going to go update my facebook status, tweet on my Twitter page, Google something interesting, and watch a video on Youtube right now so I'll speak with you again later on Deneene Says..."The blog that tells you what's up and what's going down."
