One year ago I said Barack Obama would be the next President. It wasn’t just a wish. I knew it. If I were the gambling kind, I would have gone to Vegas with it. I remember my prediction being met with shaking heads. Hillary, they said, had it all locked up.
I knew they were wrong. Not because I am a political wonk, but because I work in advertising. And because I work in advertising, I understand the power of CHANGE.
When it comes to what Americans want, change always wins. Companies know this and shower us with messages of change: 40% more; free upgrade; Bigger erections; new and improved; Come to Jamaica; change, change, change.
We are a nation of change. We are a nation of leaving England, of pushing westward and off into space. Experience is old. Experience is King George III and the British Empire. Change is the founding fathers and the American Revolution. Experience is the steady, iron hand of communism. Change was rock n’ roll and cars with fins. There is no hope in experience, nothing new. No dreams to look forward to. Who wants to live in a story like that?
This past Saturday night, at the New Hampshire debates, Hillary tipped her hand. She knows change trumps experience. After seeing where her “experience” message got her in Iowa, she sang a different tune. Last night there was a grand grab for the title of Mr. or Mrs. Change. So she went on the offensive, forcefully telling us about how she is the true candidate of change,
“I want to make change, but I’ve already made change. I’m not just running on the promise of change, I’m running on 35 years of change.”
35 years of change? That sounds neither likely nor desireable. Change is so intoxicating to us because it is fleeting; it breaks up the usual experience of your life. By its nature it is rare, and thus, exciting. How can you have 35 years of change? It didn’t matter. Change was the ticket they needed.
It got so transparent that nice old Bill Richardson said, “Whatever happened to experience?” he asked. “Is experience a leper?”
It’s not a leper, but it won’t get your face on the covers of every magazine from GQ to Time. It won’t wake young voters from their three decade doldrums. Obama can step onto a stage and he doesn’t even have to say one word about change; he is change.
He is young, he is of a mixed racial background, he has not been bogged down in Washington his entire life. He’s different from the start. He’s exciting. Obama can then talk to you, not at you. You already know what he represents. His brand is clear from the start. He doesn’t have to look desperate building up his credentials. We walks it. He doesn’t have to talk it. So it comes across as more real.
By contrast, Hillary has to go hat in hand, and talk at you. Tell you what she is. Experience. Change. Whatever. It doesn’t ring as true.
Think of Apple’s advertising. They don’t spend anytime blabbing about themselves. About prices. About hard drive capacity. No. The products speak for them. They know who they are. You do too. It’s natural. It’s effortless.
Hillary isn’t finished. She may still right the ship and get the nomination. But thanks to George Bush, change is a brand message hard to beat.
Also, fantastic essay.
On Jan.08.2008 at 09:23 AM