What a stellar result for Barack Obama. Not only did he overcome centuries of prejudice and the aged and lacklustre John McCain, but he did it by dominoing the person everyone saw as the natural heir to the White House, Hillary Clinton.
Some say it was achieved by tapping into an aching need for change in an electorate terrified of overseas wars and further economic meltdown. Yet in Britain, facing the same challenges, our reaction seems the opposite: a rise in poll ratings and a surprise by-election victory for our Prime Minister because it is “no time for a novice”.
Why should voters on opposite sides of the Atlantic react so differently? It is magnificent modern-day marketing, no doubt about it. Product Obama is a gem: good-looking, intelligent, talented and a brilliant natural orator.
But would his charisma and communication skills have been enough to win without that awesome marketing budget invested in everything from non-stop TV ad slots to a 30-minute infomercial, viral marketing and even inserts in Xbox games?
All pinpoint-targeted at where it could do most good, from his brilliant tactical victory over Mrs Clinton by focusing on the smaller states she had forgotten about to his final blitz across Republican strongholds that left McCain rocking.
The question now must be how good the buyers will feel about the product a year on, now that hopes have been elevated to the stars and beyond. Parallels have been drawn with New Labour’s 1997 victory, which promised much but delivered much less – though it took longer than the eight years allotted to the US leader for us to get sick of President Blair.
For retailers in times when the only good news seems to be coming from slash and cut discounters, the slick Obama campaign teaches some valuable lessons, showing that it helps to start with a great, bags-of-street-appeal product; something different from the norm, at a price consumers think they can afford.
You need to market your proposition with the utmost professionalism, targeting your spend laser-like on the people most likely to buy. Then hit it full budget, boldly and strongly, using all the 21st century communication channels. It is also useful if your competition is past its sell-by date. And it really isn’t necessary to go crazy with margin-crushing offers that can become habit-forming. That is, unless you want to reserve a place in the long queue of retailers that will most definitely be going bust next year.
I reckon making that first sale is the easy bit. To build a real brand, which we all know is the only way to create a profitable long-term business, we have to deliver satisfaction plus some and beat our customers’ expectations every time.
Barack Obama has made a brilliant sale, but has yet to deliver anything but hope. Only time will tell if that is enough to beat a severe recession at best and a depression at worst. Still, at least there will always be a job for him in any global marketing business, or indeed DFS.
Lord Kirkham, Chairman, DFS
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