The Branding of the President

As Courtney posted yesterday, campaign advertising is essentially product positioning. In the Obama camp, the responsibility for the Obama product largely falls to David Axelrod:

Mr. Axelrod has been not only a leading face of the campaign but also an architect of the Obama message and a keeper of the brand.

What, then, is the Obama Brand?

Obama's success owes a lot, of course, to his message--the promise to pass Democratic policies by rallying a "coalition for change." But watching Obamamania over the past few weeks, I've become convinced that there's something more subtle at work, too. It's not just the message and the man and the speeches that are swaying Democratic voters--though they are. It's the way the campaign has folded the man and the message and the speeches into a systemic branding effort. Reinforced with a coherent, comprehensive program of fonts, logos, slogans and web design, Obama is the first presidential candidate to be marketed like a high-end consumer brand.

And the McCain Brand?

The man who revels in being called a "maverick" has frittered away much of the brand advantage he spent a career establishing. With a back-of-the-envelope approach to the financial crisis, he has damaged the leadership credentials his supporters admired and his opponents feared. Some polls show Barack Obama almost pulling even on the question of who would make a better commander in chief.

If the polls are right, more Americans will be buying the Obama brand than the McCain brand this year.