The New Optimism: 'Yes We Can' Advertising Abounds

In this time of crisis/recession/fear, advertising is fostering themes of hope and shiny optimism.

Politics 2.0: Motivequest Tracks Political Brand Advocacy

MotiveQuest uses online advocacy as a measure to guage Election '08. Contrast this tool against the "expert" polls and let's see in November. At stake here in this experiment is a battle royale between the reliability of classic poll "ask" research versus online anthropology "listen" research. Whatever the outcome in November, it is increasingly clear that planners will need to balance the two measures (what they say in our survey trackers, and what they say on the web) to get a nuanced understanding of how our brands are perceived in the age of conversation/participation.

Politics 2.0: Babies for Obama Meme

1500 vids on YouTube for Obama Babies

Politics 2.0: OhBoyObama Think-tank

Oh Boy Obama is the unofficial campaign think-tank. Created by Obama supporters for the purpose of giving the Obama grassroots a platform to submit and vote on ideas to better the 2008 primary and general election campaign of Barack Obama. All supporters are welcome to contribute.

Politics 2.0: Barack 2.0, Again

Sen. Barack Obama is now on LinkedIn. And not with lame banner ads. Obama has been making the most of Web 2.0, launching his own social network, gaining a larger-than-life presence on MySpace, YouTube, and even Twitter.

Politics 2.0: CNN/YouTube Debates

Who watched the debates last night? For weeks, YouTubers have been submitting video questions from their couches and kitchen tables. Thirty-nine lucky submissions were selected for last night's CNN-broadcast debate. Missed it on CNN? The whole debate, question by question, is parceled out on YouTube (was this the final frontier of appointment television?).

While the questions were sifted through by some staff team somewhere, they weren't squeaky clean. Obama even commented on the fact that nearly every question was colored with a tone of skepticism. Here's a guy asking what Hilary thought of the idea of potentially 28 years of the same two families running the country, (Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton) and if the other candidates found that troublesome.


And now, YouTube is looking for reactions; what did viewers think of the candidates and their answers.

This debate format is reflective of our desire to participate in, instead of just holding on to the ride of life. People from all walks of life set up their tripods and, in varying levels of seriousness, asked what they really wanted candidates to talk about. I'd say that the candidates still need a little work at this whole "genuine, authentic" thing; responses tended on the side of sidestepping, finger-pointing and the occasional unrelated answer. But I give them credit for participating in this new experiment and look forward to the upcoming Republican Debate, which will take place in the same format.

Politics 2.0: More Obama Girl

UPDATE: the full clip hot off the presses. Some real heated debate for you:



The hotly anticipated trailer to her new song...ahh, yeah! Servin' up politics b-boy style.

Avin dug up the info and tracked down more on Obama Girl here, and here. I'm seein' opportunity...live televised political debates between "Hot For Hill" and "Obama Girl". Bring it! "You 'bout ta git served, Hillary!"

Politics 2.0: Barack Obama Goes Completely Social Media

Presidential candidate Barack Obama turned his site into a social network this weekend, hoping to create a venue for his supporters to connect. Obama is already leveraging social media using Facebook, MySpace and Flickr.

Users may organize fundraising, create events, find Obama events near you, build a network of friends, send messages, join groups and write a blog about how you’re helping Obama, or how you feel about the Obama campaign. Groups are the way to connect to strangers on the network, since there doesn’t seem to be a browse feature (you can, however, search by name or zipcode). In many regards, it’s more like Facebook than MySpace or YouTube - simple, text-based and focused on connecting with people you know or those around you.



AKI COMMENT: And I like his logo, too! Beats that same shiesty wavy flag graphic (or worse) that politicians have been retreading for 30 years. A simple and refreshing icon harkens to a new day dawning in politics. Though the letter "O" is somewhat predictable (probably the client call), this is played in a rather clever and unexpected treatment. Obama gets my consideration just for adopting an intriguing design ethic that speaks more than "politics as usual". Funny how most politicians just don't consider graphic identity as a relevant and influential piece of the presentation and package. For all intents and purposes, the candidates graphic identity is the very start of the conversation between voter and candidate.


via Mashable.com