Thursday February 12th marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. Considered by most historians as the greatest American President, Lincoln was also the first President to grasp the benefits and power of telecommunications.

Barack Obama has been an avid admirer of his fellow Illinoisan Abraham Lincoln. Obama had announced his candidacy for President on Lincoln’s birthday in 2007 at the Old State Capitol Building in Springfield, the location of Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech. One of Obama’s favorite books has been Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The books’ central theme was that Lincoln had appointed most of his Presidential rivals to his cabinet, including William Seward for Secretary of State. Nearly 150 years later, Obama named Hillary Clinton to run the State Department. His connection was further solidified when Obama was sworn in as President using the same Bible Lincoln used in 1861.

There is another parallel shared by the author of the Emancipation Proclamation and the first American President of African descent. Both were “early adopters” of technology and used them frequently for political gain and to get information. Originally considered an unsophisticated westerner, Lincoln was fascinated with new technology (Lincoln is the only President to be granted a patent), whether it was the latest in weaponry, hot air balloons, railroads (he had paved the way for the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869) or the telegraph, which was first used in 1844.

According to Tom Wheeler’s book Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails, Lincoln almost immediately saw the advantages of the telegraph. His historic debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858 crystallized his position on slavery and were carried almost instantly around the nation, paving the way for his Presidential run two years later. In Harold Holzer’s book Lincoln at Cooper Union, the westerner travelled to New York City in February 1860 with a historic speech that solidified himself as a serious Presidential candidate. The speech contained the famous last sentence, “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” The elegant prose was not only designed to impress those in attendance at Cooper Union, but also to electrify the country via the telegraph. After Lincoln was nominated, he invited his Vice Presidential choice Hannibal Hamlin to meet him, the time and place was decided by the telegraph. Lincoln notified his choice for Secretary of War Simon Cameron (another rival) with a telegraph message, followed by a formal letter. Lastly, as Wheeler’s book points out, Lincoln used the telegraph as a personal news service throughout the Civil War as well as an opportunity to give military strategies and suggestions to his field commanders. Lincoln’s assassination was known to millions at a speed unheard of because of the telegraph.

Like Lincoln, Obama has also shown a keen interest in technology. Among Obama’s campaign advisors included Eric Schmidt the CEO of Google and Chris Hughes a co-founder of Facebook. One of Obama’s campaign promises was the creation of the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer. The cabinet level position would ensure that the government maintains a state of the art infrastructure and increases cyber security.

During the campaign Obama welcomed new technologies unlike any of other candidates. This strategy was especially effective in reaching young voters. For example, the design of Obama’s website was considered a major success. The website was easier to navigate and encouraged voters to receive more information on the candidate. Another asset was continually updating the website. Throughout the campaign, Obama’s website had consistently more unique visitors than any of his rivals.

Besides the website, the Obama campaign also welcomed other aspects of the Internet. For example, Obama’s social network attracted 3.5 million “friends”. They optimized paid search so that anytime anyone searched for “Barack” or “Obama”, the campaign website appeared. Obama was only one of two candidates to use online sponsored listings.

Obama’s technology reached its climax in August 2008, when, according to Nielsen, 2.9 million people received, via text message, Obama’s selection of Joe Biden as his running mate. Supporters were invited to text VP to 62262 to be the first to know. This was considered the single largest mobile marketing event (and not to different from what President Lincoln had done). Despite the strategy, the media had discovered of Obama’s choice before the text message was sent.

Since his election, Obama’s interest in technology has continued. He fought with the Secret Service to keep his blackberry, although it is restricted for security reasons, making him the first President to have one. His proposed economic stimulus package included a campaign promise to make high-speed Internet access available across the United States.

Technology is another similarity between Lincoln and Obama. Lincoln used and understood the telegraph as a powerful communications vehicle in the 19th century. In all likelihood, if Lincoln were campaigning and elected President in the 21st century, he would recognize the assets that modern technology would bring to him and to the country.

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admin TV Appearances Barack Obama, Obamamania

Over the past few months, a new phenomenon has been happening with marketers and Barack Obama. Never before has a sitting (or even former) President become the image of a brand or his campaign phrases or book titles become a slogan for a product. Some politicians however, like Bob Dole and Ed Koch, have pitched a product in a commercial, but it was after they had retired.

For example, Ben & Jerry has unveiled a new ice cream flavor called “Yes, Pecan” with the President’s image on the container. Hence, the President joins such flavors (based upon real people) as Ethan Almond, Cherry Garcia and Wavy Gravy. A detergent company is now using the slogan “The Audacity of Soap”, based upon the title of the President’s second book. Ikea furniture has begun to use the phrase “Embrace Change” and Southwest Airlines is now using “Yes You Can”, both expressions were used by repeatedly by Barack Obama throughout his campaign. Pepsi Cola’s new logo is conspicuously similar to the emblem Obama used in his campaign. The new logo, however, is similar to their previous logo.

No sitting President has been so popular with marketers that they have taken the unprecedented step of attaching onto his image and words to help sell their products. Attorneys have been working to develop guidelines to protect the President and the office of the Presidency, but there is little they can do to prevent advertisers from using the image or the words of the President.

The branding even extends to the President’s family. The Ty Inc. company created two new beanie babies, Marvellous Malia and Sweet Sasha, after the names of the President’s two daughters. The White House claimed the company was exploiting private citizens for marketing gains. Ty has retired the two dolls, which purposely had little resemblance to the “first daughters”. The First Lady Michelle Obama has quickly become a fashion icon. Fashion designers (many up and coming) of her outfits have clearly benefited from the free press. Even J. Crew has profited, after Michelle Obama mentioned she was wearing a J. Crew outfit on a Tonight Show appearance. When the two daughters wore J. Crew for the inaugural, the company’s website crashed from too many users. Even the President has been a fashion icon. In Rome, at a recent fashion show there was an outfit that featured the image of Obama with “Change” written on underneath it.

Similar to previous inaugurals, there were T-shirts, key chains, buttons and coffee mugs with the President’s image that sold for hundreds of millions of dollars. Barack Obama however, is also an ideal image for a brand; he is trustworthy, recognizable, and without a hint of scandal. Obama is also ideal because he is young, charismatic and is a devoted family man. As an icon he is also very affordable (unlike Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan) and his image and words can represent stability in uncertain economic times, similar to using a company’s CEO as spokesperson. Since these are many of the attributes that marketers are looking for when using a celebrity spokesperson, it is not surprising that Obama’s have been used by a company.

The phrases and images used by marketers are based upon an extraordinary marketing strategy Obama used that combined traditional media such as radio, direct mail and television with e-mail, social networks and search. Another factor was that his main message of “change” never varied throughout the campaign. These strategies elevated Obama from a relatively obscure freshman Illinois Senator to a global icon in just two years. Hence, by using Obama’s well-known and successful campaign phrases it helps a brand rise above the noise level with an already familiar slogan with consumers.

There is a downside, though. A primary reason why marketers do not use politicians for ads is politicians have opponents and can have lots of them. Despite the euphoria expressed by millions at his inaugural, Obama received “only” 53% of the total votes cast and 58 million had voted for Senator McCain. The approval rating of Presidents can also fluctuate. While Obama’s is currently in the mid-60’s it is sure to change. For example, the approval rating of President Bush swung by nearly 70%. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 the approval rating of President Bush approached 90%. By the time President Bush left office it had dipped to nearly 20%.

The usage of Obama by marketers coincides with the honeymoon period or “100 Days” that all incoming Presidents have with the public. As time goes by and the newness wears-off, marketers are likely to drop the image and words of the President and move on to another promotion and ad campaign. It is doubtful that these companies will use Obama’s image or words by this summer.

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