Not surprising that industry experts are more effective. I don’t know why talk shows keep interviewing political operatives. You know exactly what they are going to say.

Source: New York Times

Ford CEO presents plan

Click here to view the embedded video.

 

Chrysler created a channel on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=grab+democracy&search_type=&aq=f

Enter bailout or ford bailout in google and you get an adwords ad leading you to Ford’s business plan on scribd
http://www.scribd.com/search?query=ford+business+plan&x=23&y=14

 

GM puts up a minisite to defend itself. Reads quite a bit like one of those advocacy advertorials in the NY Times. Not gonna work
www.GMfactsandfiction.com

 

The Obama campaign posted behind the scenes photos on photo-sharing site Flickr of Obama, his family, and friends as they waited for election results . The pictures generated so much traffic that Flickr became briefly overloaded.

In addition, Obama’s transition team website is soliciting ideas for solving the country’s problems. Check it out at  the Open Government section at change.gov .

One small example.  If you contributed to Obama’s campaign you received an email from  Obama on election night, saying “I’m on my way over to Grant Park in Chicago.  Just want to thank you for your generous support.”  Something like that went out to millions of supporters.

Nice touch.

When Obama seized the “change” theme in Iowa, the other Dems tried to take it from him. In the following debate, the word “change” was repeated by the Democratic candidates at least 50 times. But they couldn’t take it away. Obama now owned it.

But the Republicans with Sarah Palin have done something remarkable. They are challenging Obama for the change theme. Obama is fighting back.

“When John McCain gets up there with Sarah Palin and says, `We’re for change,’ … what are they talking about?” Obama said recently, arguing that they aren’t offering different ideas from President Bush and they are just trying to steal his campaign theme because it seemed to be working.

“It was just like a month ago they were all saying, `Oh, it’s experience, experience, experience.’ Then they chose Palin and they started talking about change, change, change,” he said.

In political campaigns, the right theme can make or break a presidential bid. Change is the right theme. Now let’s see who will own it.

 

After the Iowa caucus Obama seized the “change agent” position. It fit him, he articulated well, and he was the first to seize it. In the debate right after, all candidates, including Hillary Clinton, tried to claim they were the real change agent. Too late. Maybe their campaign gurus never read the classic book on positioning: “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.” If they did they would’ve realized the first one to really seize a market position– owns it.  Once that happens it’s almost impossible to dislodge the business (person) from that market positioning.

 What you need to do is find another way, another angle to capture that same market.  Now it seems that Clinton has finally found her best positioning. “I am a fighter. And you can be sure I’ll fight for you (meaning change).”  It is her way to capture the market looking for change. But as poll numbers indicate, it may well be too late.

The lesson is be very careful of the positioning you adopt for your business. If you are going after the wrong positioning it won’t work no matter how hard you try. You may need to change the message in order to capture your share of the market.

To determine the best positioning for your business, check out this workshop