eyebeejay

Taking the leap abroad.

2009-07-14T09:30:00.001-07:00

"The world's next generation of leaders must have transcultural skills. They need to have an appreciation and understanding of cultures, and know, for instance, how to relate and behave when they walk off a plane. "-Frank Brown, INSTEAD

When marketers talk about search engine marketing, they think Google. That's because Google is the search engine in North America with 81% of dominance of the search market. If you know Google's algorithm, you're in the game. But this sort of North American thinking will leave you aimlessly hoping for the best, especially if you're a company dealing mainly with international markets. Leap above the competition by knowing where the target searches and you'll be connecting and relating much better.

Large markets like China, Japan, Korea are searching elsewhere. Better said, 41.2% of the world internet users are predominantly using search engines other than Google. China- Baidu.com (70% market share in China), Japan-Yahoo, Korea- Naver.com (70% of market share in Korea).
Know the characteristics/uniqueness of each search engine and you'll be connecting more intimately with your target. For example, Baidu, with its simplicity in design and ad pages is remarkably similar to Google, but with different algorithms. A search on Naver for "hair-style" results in a page categorized by links, blogs, communities and tips by users- a reflection of Korea's strong culture of community and connection.

There are very few North American companies, or even agencies who are taking advantage of these search engines. That's an opportunity for you if you can figure out how to communicate and approach in their language.

A Picture is Worth $5.75 Million

2009-06-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

It's here folks! Adsense for Images. Visual commerce enabling on celebrity photos and much much more.

The Silicon Valley startup, Pixazza, is utilizing non abrasive ways to sell products by embedding photos with marketing messages and shopping vendor links such as Macy's and Zappos.com. When a reader casually browses over items in photos, a message such as "Get Angelina's gladiator heels at shopbop.com!" will appear, making the process a three way engagement, between vendors, publishers and "product experts"- regular folks at home with particular knowledge on that pair of burgundy Jimmy Choos. Much like Facebook's photo tagging abilities, each image is tagged by real people who match the items.

It is gaining lots of buzz in the media, due to this unique crowdsourcing platform techonology.
Even ad giant, Google, invested, $5.75 million hoping that Pixazza "will do for images what Google’s AdSense did for web pages,” reads a statement from CEO Bob Lisbonne.

I think this is a great start to a subtle way of connecting brands with engaged consumers. Besides, who wouldn't want to know the latest cocktail number that Blake Lively was wearing on Rodeo Drive?

I guess Minority Report-like ad saturated world is not such a distant future.

Read More about it on Cnet.

Leaner & Meaner: The Marketers of the Future

2009-03-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

The state of the economy is making everyone nervous, especially recent grads. I hear you. As part of nature's balance, organizations are leaning out its organization. Google is laying off 200 people in its Marketing and Sales Department and several projects, while for the newspaper industry, online and print advertising is down by 16.6%, and at a increasingly rapid pace, leaving hundreds of writers and media planners out of work (Click Z Network March 2009).
Elsewhere in the industry, marketing and sales budgets are being the first to go, leaving marketers to be the all in one, multi-player.

So what does this mean for marketers and new grads?

Well good news is, companies prefer to hire recent grads, as they tend to be eager, flexible and willing to work longer hours. (yes, true). However, expectations are far greater than 4 years ago. A marketing professional must now be a media and PR savant, strategist, social media guru, event manager, market researcher, while having the know-how of basics of SEO, e-mail marketing, web and graphic design and the ability to speak at all levels- to marketing, agencies, operations, to web designers, to contractors, in their "language".

Bottom Line: Show that you can market smart (and for less). "When a door of happiness closes, another opens. Often we look at the closed door, we do not see the one that’s been opened." -Helen Keller

Yes it will be a difficult start amidst the weak labor market. But recognize that it is between these down periods that business can weed out competitors and reach its peak when the economy picks up again, so communicate these opportunities to the B and through networking. The same rings true, for your own personal brand. Keep your focus sharp, disciplined and focused on the desired outcome. As my professor would say, continuously learn and build on knowledge that is growing -web and mobile marketing, and be nice to people, and you will be noticed.

The Spotlight is on Skittles

2009-03-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

The well known colorful coated candy brand, Skittles, launched a new website that is generating a lot of oohs and aahs... and ohhs in the social media sphere.

In an attempt to fully embrace the social media movement, Skittles has completely defaced its corporate website to a Twitter (micro blogging site) search or a Wikipedia (user contributed online encyclopedia) search of Skittles. Visitors are redirected to a floating menu where they would be able to taste a snapshot of what people are saying about the candy- through various high traffic social points such as YouTube, Flickr and Facebook. It's a campaign that is generating a lot of buzz in the blogosphere, but is it for the long run? It is great that they are letting consumers know that they are "listening" but the question is, how much control are they going to give to the consumers and are they going to be actively engaging in these conversations? Also, is this having any effect on their brand building?

Last time I checked, people on Twitter weren't talking about their favorite Skittles flavors, but were writing profanity and unrelated comments around Skittles- may partly be a reason why the current redirection lands only on Wikipedia. And there was no sign of Skittles responding to theses chatters.

In my opinion, unless you're a candy fanatic, people aren't likely to be actively browsing the web for information. Perhaps a better campaign to drive traffic to the web for an impulse purchase item such as candy, would have been to offer printable coupons for a special edition Skittles or discounts redeemable at the store. What are your thoughts?

Here's an article by Stan Schroeder on Mashable: Skittles Site Receives an Extreme Makeover

Lessons From a Wise Old Bird

2009-02-28T21:49:00.000-08:00

"A wise old owl sat on an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke, the less he spoke, the more he heard...Lessons from a wise old bird"

People are talking about your brand, are you tapping in when they are conversing?

Listening can do many wonders for your company: Gauging sentiments, learning from customers, harnessing new ideas, finding out about what they like/dislike about your brand and competitors, establishing a personal relationship between the brand and customers, improving the corporate reputation, differentiating your brand, managing a potentially disastrous PR crisis to name a few.

Conversations (either negative or positive) around your brand means they care about your brand, and to ignore it will prompt a question from your boss two years from now- why didn't we jump onto the social media bandwagon in 09'? If you haven't heard, social media monitoring is essential for your company's competitive intelligence.

To stay sharp and to take advantage of this movement, there are a variety of free online social media monitoring tools available to keep things in your radar. For the manager, finding out where to listen to, engage, and speak in social media and what to listen for should be part of the overall social strategy.

When things get complex, ask yourself, what would the wise old owl do? And take the next step- record and respond accordingly.

Social Media Monitoring Tools to keep handy:

Recommended Free tools:

Twitter Search or Tweet Beep (sends free Twitter alerts about your product/brand by e-mail)

Google Alerts

Blog Pulse

Paid tools but offers free trial (Measurement and Analysis of the monitored content):

There are many other tools available online. Here's a list of tools offered by Smashing Magazine.

Social Media- Your Collaborative Inbox

2009-02-06T13:12:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in my previous posts, people are yearning for the personal connection with brands (through dialogue, widgets, peer reviews, blogs, comments), however, marketers are not seeing a real return on these new mediums. Social media offers a low cost option to engage and to enhance the visibility on search and online: "Per contact cost for e-mail was $0.36; facebook was $0.05; and Twitter was $0.005" (thanks for the info. from one of the commenter)

However, like traditional advertisement, social media can hurt your brand if not done right. As social media is a new thing for many companies, very few managers know how to utilize and manage these "foreign" channels in a way that balances both interactivity and branding communication.

My main take away from this is that both time and strategy need to be invested within social media campaigns as much as your "traditional" marketing campaigns to capitalize on the opportunity. Each channels offer varying ways to engage. Walls, widgets, videos may seem shiny and new, but you might ask, what is the real value of using this medium, and is it right for your business?

Some tips:

Start by listening to what people have to say about your brand. Google search "[your brand] is the worst" and alternately, search "[your brand] is awesome" to get some interesting insights. Listen to what people are saying in Twitter and other social media sites. Respond to them and take them seriously.
B2B companies can also jump onto the bandwagon- especially if your competitors have not done so yet. Google Blendtec and Will it Spread to see a successful case for a "boring category product" that used new media (with the right mix of entertainment and brand value) to reach customers.

Hire a Gen Y-er (like me) who has some knowledge on social media and e-marketing to manage these campaigns full time.

If you're thinking of starting up a blog, start by engaging into other forums and existing dialogues online. For example, if you're a chocolate shop owner, perhaps you can start by engaging into local food/cooking forums by offering some tips in the art of chocolate making.
If you're thinking about starting your own blog, have someone who can write well (I mean somone who has some knowledge in journalism- not your front desk secretary).
And keep in mind, there will be haters out there. Great brands have both lovers and haters. Listen to these guys- they may offer some tips for your next product.

Have you heard? Social Media Killed the E-mail.

2009-02-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

TV did not kill the Radio...but will social media kill the E-mail?

I came across this interesting article called Bye-Bye E-mail? on ClickZ by Jeanniey Mullen and she offers some good insight into the outlook on email with the Recession and the change in the social media landscape (summarized below):

With layoffs and workforce movement during the recession, e-mail marketers will need to remain smart and consider new e-mail addresses and list attrition.

Possible solutions: secondary e-mail address request line in the opt-in form.

Despite the lower response rates and change in the media landscape, E-mail is here to stay. However, flexibility and management of these various channels will be key to E-mail marketing and click through success.

Possible solutions: Take advantage of social networking sites, forums and blogs as secondary channels of communication. Engage with your customers in various ways to listen and communicate.

There's a good dialogue going on, on the article and topic that you might want to check out (great examples of companies engaging within existing forums).

Bring the love back to E-mails

2009-01-30T21:55:00.000-08:00

I was intrigued after reading this groundswell post called "The Best E-mail Marketing I Ever Got", where Josh Bernoff writes about a company that manages to be human in their marketing. Astonishing.

The company is called Rentvillas.com and they manage to receive 2,000 rental inquiries every year for European travelers, looking for week long villa or cottage rentals. The company prides on having an extensive list of peer generated positive reviews and personalized e-mail campaigns.

Josh points out, "emulate how they think, and tap into the emotions of your customers with whatever is special about your product" -simple right? It's what marketing students have been learning since first year.

But very few companies actually manage to add in this "personal" touch in their e-mail marketing. Take Amazon.com or Ebay.com for example- who are great at delivering professional looking email templates, suggested items and getting my name right in the first line, but that's about it. Efficient yes. But to a reader, it feels corporate and that's never a good thing during this age.

However, the e-mailers at Rentvilla.com tells a story. Plain text and real travel photos are used to bring to life a day in a traveller's shoes in Castellina-in-Chianti, Tuscany. Perfect. It's almost as if receiving a postcard from a friend.

That being said, the CEO and founder of Rentvillas.com, Suzanne does write 1700 personal emails a year. Although she has profited tremendously from this effort, it might not work so well for giants such as Amazon.com.

However, she does make a point.

Get personal. Be human. Bring the love back into marketing. And the people will follow.

The Break Up

Non-Abrasive Ways of Promoting on Facebook

2009-01-30T21:15:00.000-08:00

Marketing on social networking sites may be old news for students but there are "smart" ways to market through Facebook by creatively utilizing the tools within the site.

Steve Peterson offers a few good insights into ways to promote your brand, social cause or event without the use of mass messaging or banner ads.

He emphasizes the use of the news feed function, where it chronicles the friend's activities. I've been taking advantage of this to market several events. It's definitely a whole lot less irritating than receiving mass, irrelevant messages from various groups. Here are some of the things that I found are effective:

Have your entire organization/event planning committee change their profile picture under a consistent themed portrait shot with your event name. Have them change their profile at a certain agreed upon date. In the news feed section, people will see that 50 of their friends have changed their profile picture, and they'll see a mosaic of similar photos. Be the first one to do this and your campaign will have more effective click throughs.
If you have a Facebook group, avoid the mass messages. People will start ignoring them. Follow the golden rule: avoid marketing something to someone with zero interest.
Have the entire committee change their "status" section, into a tag line for your event that leads to the company/organization website. It may even be good if your team decides on a series of pre-templated "status" statements for consistency sakes.
If you're a local organization or company, opt for a Facebook page, rather than a group. It is more customizable through the use of HTML and Flash (extending the functionality and user experience) and has a higher limit for messaging.

Follow this link for Steve Peterson's 6 Ways to Market on Facebook.

Connect to Learn, Learn to Connect

2009-01-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

Tasks, goals, deadlines, polls, brainstorming ideas, scheduling, coordination, TO DO lists- these are all challenges faced when working on projects involving more than 4 people. Especially when managing multi-group projects and a team of 25, it starts to get out of hands.

Thankfully, programers responded to our needs. To make life a little simpler and organized, take advantage of these great online tools that I've accumulated over the last four years:

My Top 5 Favorite Online Tools for Better Collaborations, Team Management and Idea Sharing:

Google Group and Google Doc (www.groups.google.com/)

How it works: Online group where members can upload large files. Documents can be easily edited and colloborated in real time by multiple participants. Documents range from spread sheets, word doc to presentations. Great for gathering group feedback and updates from many people.

Pros: Highly accessible. Allows you to have "virtual" storage spaces, so it keeps the e-mail memory usage low. As it is directly linked to individual's e-mail, participants get prompt updates on the group and managers can see the project progress from a bird's eye point of view.
Cons: Can take a while for some to learn. May end up cluttered and messy if left to run on its own. Requires a lot of organization to maintain as projects get bigger.

Tips: To stay organized, separate pages and create links to various sub sections (such as Marketing, Operations, Events etc.). Designate one person to update the group regularly, so that it doesn’t become out of date.

Doodle (www.doodle.com/main.html)

How it works: A simple, no fuss online scheduling tool. Allows colleagues to easily coordinate dates, times and polls for meetings, get togethers, travels, parties and decision items. It's hard to imagine a meeting coordination without Doodle.

Pros: Easy to use. No sign up required! Anyone can learn to use it in less than a minute. No more exchanging 20 e-mails for schedule coordinations.

Cons: As no sign up is required, each scheduling takes time to build.

Tips: As it's such an user-friendly tool, it can be used for anything, from scheduling a reunion, finding an ideal conference time to polling for ideas.

Wuala (www.wuala.com/en)

How it works: A free online workspace that allows users to "bridge the web and desktop" allowing easy access from any place and time zone.

Pros: Easy to run multiple team-oriented projects. One centralized storage location that is organized. May be a better option to Google Group for larger projects involving several sub groups.

Cons: Requires users to learn and sign up on an account. May be difficult to get members to check back often.

Tips: Have a meeting with the team for proper training and usage guidelines for the workspace. Set ground rules for updates and file uploads. Separate users types by department or projects so to avoid un-targeted e-mails.

Toodledo (www.toodledo.com)

How it works: Easily organize and collaborate TO DO lists.

Pros: Allows users to import existing tasks from many sources. It facilitates group goal settings, productivity and time management. Best for smaller projects.

Cons: Requires separate sign up. It may be hard to motivate team members to check regularly. This tool isn't necessary if the team is already on a workspace.

Tips: Have all of your project management files in one space. Choose one program and stick with it to encourage use and productivity.
MSN/Instant Messaging

How it works: Sends and receives instant written messages (IM) by multiple users. New features include video conferencing and virtual share folders for easy file transfers.

Pros: Can receive immediate feedback and is more personal than e-mails. Allows users to track conversations in a single window. It is best for questions that need immediate responses. Great alternative when in-person and phone meetings aren't possible.

Cons: It is distracting when work is required. Security issues are common for most IM programs.

Tips: Set your "status" as busy when engaging in an important IM conversation.
Your weekend plans can wait. Programs such as Adium (www.adiumx.com/) allows you to collaborate with multiple users from various IM applications such as Yahoo, MSN and AIM.

Are You There When They Search Your "Cucina Ville"?

2009-01-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

A Letter to the Vancouver Real Estate Developers (VRED):

Dear Vred,

Ah yes. It's the global recession and you're not looking so good this year.

Buyers are facing uncertainty, pre-sale owners are selling off their deposits on Craigslist, real estate agents are without clients, your sales force are quitting and your rivals are liquidating. The bubble burst.

It is now a buyers' market and the grim future is ahead for what was a paradise market for the last 5 years.

Should you continue to pour money into giant billboards, signage, odd names and lifestyle imagery, newspaper and magazine ads, cocktail nights and real estate events? Wake up. It's a new age. You are facing the same reality as the rest of the industry: Buyers are more cautious, their shopping behaviors are changing, they are no longer lining up to drop down their cheques on those pre-sales. The very nature of the business is changing and people are comparing apples to apples.

People are tired of hearing about your Marina Lifestyle this, Cucina Ville that...these polished stock photos of nature, people and agency-produced names are all bound to fall into the trash can. It must have been hard for you to persuade people to purchase that 500K condo on the East Side. But it's not so bad. There are still buyers, thanks to the low mortgage rates, falling prices and large selections coupled with a tight rental market.

So what's a developer to do, you say. Oh Vred, it's just a little more sophistication and thought that's needed in your marketing, that's all. Buyers have changed and so can you.

Know your buyers and what they want- people are going to be price sensitive but buyers are still out there and they are looking for good investment with potential at a decent price.
With gas prices up, not all the people will be going to be driving from sales center to the next. So why waste half your marketing budget on signage? Your potential buyers are searching and comparing more than ever online. Take Google's fourth quarter profits of $5.7 Billion as a clue. Be present and integrate yourself online. People are searching; are you there when they search your "Cucina Ville" (You may want to check out google.com/analytics and google.com/webmasters)
Have an user centric website. Yes this means, that you should probably start thinking about what you can do for these visitors, instead of focusing on how great you are.
Connect with your buyers and have a two way dialogue.
Stay close in touch with your current owners and create a community around your "brand". Let people voice their opinions to each other about your property and use these as insights into your next project. A little frightening huh? It's okay, we all need to let our contents go. Perhaps having a corporate blog about decor, saving energy bills, setting up community recycling or real estate buying tips may be an idea to think about.

Ah yes, one more thing. Get back into the flow of customer service that you neglected during the boom.

I know, it's hard to move away from the comforting idea of using signage and newspapers and this new media thing may well, sound gimmicky. And you might just want to make the slash in price and hope for a large buyout. In the long run though, how is this going to help your corporate brand, post recession?

People are looking for a revolving relationship. They are getting their information online...be it news, weather, gossip or their next new purchase and they want to talk to you. Just be ready for it. Connecting is the new cool.

Until then, cheer up.

Best,

Materialist

Will It Spread?

2009-01-16T19:40:00.000-08:00

Viral Marketing is a concept that has been around since the dawn of Hotmail. It is used by companies to increase brand awareness and spread messages through self-replicating viral processes. (Wikipedia) However, very few marketers have perfected this concept and many have failed to see real measures of profit through viral campaigns.

As Seth Godin mentions in his blog (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/)

Viral campaigns must:

1. Have content that has viral value. It is useful (Hotmail) and entertaining enough to spread on its own and the company encourages this sharing.
2. Be built in (Facebook). The strategy is well thought out and there are benefits to the users for spreading it.
3. Balance the entertainment element with marketing effectiveness (Obama's Campaign).

I'd like to build on this third point as I feel this is the most important one.

It is easy to create a viral campaign that raises the click-throughs and viewers to the website, downloads or videos as long as the content is free, entertaining and worth spreading. However, the difficult part to building a viral campaign, is bringing the value to the brand. Too often, marketers are occupied in raising the "entertainment" value of the campaign that somewhere along the way, the marketing message is lost underneath the flashy videos and blogs.

Some questions that managers should ask:

Is this piece of viral product, video or application delivering the brand's marketing objectives? Is it raising the profile of the brand (awareness)? Is it encouraging users from going from "awareness" to "trial phase"? What is the bottom line created from this viral campaign?

Burger King, for example, has created a series of viral campaigns. Here are some of the most popular ones:

The Angry-Gram Campaign
http://www.angry-gram.com

For the launch of their Angry Whopper, Burger King created a micro-site where users can make their personalized“Angry-Gram” to send to people that annoy them. Those who receive the "Angry-Gram" are faced with an animated, screaming burger that verbally harasses them.

Viral Value: Yes, it's funny, personalized, entertaining and easy to spread
Targeted: Youths, young fast food diners
Brand Value: I think it fails on this part. What message is it sending to its audience? That the Angry Whopper is here and it has attitude? How would Burger King manage the content of the message and what if the messages aren't consistent with the BK brand?

The Whopper Sacrifice Campaign
www.whoppersacrifice.com/

Burger King created a Facebook application that promises a free Whopper if the user "unfriends" 10 of their current buddies on Facebook. Those unfortunate deleted friends receive a message saying that this person valued a Whopper more than their friendship. Ouch.

Viral Value: Great combination of social media and entertainment value. It resulted in the loss of 233,903 friendships.
Targeted: Youths, young audience, fast food diners who are price sensitive
Brand Value: I think it's something to debate. In one way it's giving the Whopper some novelty value (your friend would rather opt for the free Whopper than to have you on his/her friend list) while in another way, it may potentially cause a hate movement towards the Whopper (from those 233,903 members that were dropped by their friends). Either way, it is getting people to try the Whopper. It would be interesting to see the stats on the retention of those Whopper first-timers. Unfortunately, this campaign was disabled by Facebook. Who knows why? Perhaps it hurt too many feelings.

The Whopper Freakout Campaign
www.whopperfreakout.com

This is my favorite campaign out of the BK line up of viral ads. The campaign illustrated real people's reactions under hidden camera, when Burger King permanently discontinued the Whopper burger (their signature burger). It married an online campaign with bursts of TV ads.

Viral Value: Yes, it got people talking. Clearly it has entertainment and draw power. BK also gets bonus points for portraying real-life, loyal customers on its videos.
So far the campaign attracted 217,000 views on Youtube and 1.3 million views on its website. Users even created parody videos such as the "Ghetto Whopper Freakout" which attracted 2.2 million views.
Targeted: Existing Burger King and Whopper fans, fastfood diners at other chain restaurants
Brand Value: This positions Burger King as the "Home of the Whopper". It reminds casual customers of the nostalgic value of the Whopper and those who have never considered the Whopper may give it a try after seeing how loyal some people feel about the burger.
In fact, since the launch of the campaign, sales have gone up by 20% (ABC News).

So it is not easy balancing the entertainment value with the brand message, but done right, viral marketing can help the brand engage with a wider cast audience and effectively communicate its marketing message.

The Whopper Freakout

Lessons Learned from the Obama Campaign

2009-01-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

The president elect is possibly the biggest celebrity of this year, offline and online. Barack Obama is the first presidential candidate to successfully leverage on the powers of social media and Web 2.0. Through strategic and smart communications, it helped raise Obama's presence, increase young voter turnouts, raise funds and create a participatory democratic community.

"By the end of the campaign, 10 million people were on Obama's mail and e-mail lists; 4 million of those people donated; and an unprecedented amount of money was raised from donations of less than $200 each." (By Dan Solomon, The ClickZ Network, Dec 10, 2008)

His campaign gives marketers several insights into new ways of communicating and distributing the message. So how did the Obama Administration do it?

He fully embraced the digital tools of the Internet and Web 2.0:

-He used a variety of engaging mediums, including online videos, blogs, online community and social networking sites. This strong presence coupled with strategic planning, allowed the administration to reach younger audiences and increase voter turn out across a diverse demographic.

Obama's YouTube Channel

Obama on YouTube

-His website, BarackObama.com represents an effective, user-centric website. It features the contents that draw the traffic and easy navigation that appeals to a wide audience. From music, videos, widgets, news, local events to ring tones, these contents give users a compelling reason to share and return back with their own voice. Visitors are encouraged to share their thoughts and opinions with other users.

-He took on grassroots approach, earned the support at the local levels and gave the people (called "bundlers") the tools for productive viral marketing. Very few companies provide their supporters a guidance to spreading their brand and believe that the entertainment value of their content is enough to compel users to spread a good message. On the other hand, Obama's strategy allowed people to reach and support his movement on a grassroots level but in an organized and effective way.

Obama's Easy Online Tools for Local Campaigning

-He gave lavish recognition for top ranking supporters on the website and at special events. This gave the motivation for volunteers to evangelize to the masses.

-He gave the power to the people and listened to their voice. He gave a platform for people to talk about their opinions and experiences publicly so they they can "help shape the movement". The people's voice were collectively accumulated and publicly visible for others to see and to use in their own views. He fully embraced and took advantage of the messages created by others, from celebrities (See below for the "Yes We Can" video by will.i.am) to experts to youths.

Obama: Join the Discussion

He Humanized the Political Game:

-The Obama brand represents Hope and Change. His story, his upbringing, his message, his character and leadership style all represent these core values. He understood that the masses were in charge and he reflected this in all of his communication.

Moreover, unlike traditional political campaigns, very little of its marketing efforts focused on the political issues or facts. Instead, it focused on the themes of change, people's voice, inclusive thinking and aspirations. In other words, he leveraged on the powers of emotion in his marketing. The Obama brand speaks at all levels and represents many perceived meanings to different people. He encompasses what a good brand should be: relevant, engaging, consistent and personal.

Fun fact: President Obama's portrait is the first official President portrait to be taken with a digital camera.

YouTube Video: Yes We Can, will.i.am, founding member and frontman of Black Eyed Peas