Who Has Best Copywriting Team: John McCain Or Barack Obama?

[Bensettle]

Who's got the best copywriting/marketing team:

John McCain or Barack Obama?

Not who you like better (let's not go there...) but who do you think is doing better ads?

I'm going to have to go with McCain at the moment.

Barack's boys are doing some interesting marketing on the Internet. (Although how well his online leads will "convert" is still in question until election day).

But the way McCain's boys are pulling video footage from Barack's speeches -- the ultimate form of proof, unlike most of the dorky local political ads we're seeing where I live, which are just still images and short text sound bytes that always sound out of context -- to make their points is interesting.

Anyway, considering the obscene amounts of money that goes into creating these political ads each election, it's useful to see what they're doing to try and persuade large numbers of people to vote one way or another.

Especially since even the crappy stuff can be useful (as an example of what NOT to do).

So that's my humble opinion on the subject so far. (And could change, depending on what happens in the coming weeks).

But what about you?

Which camp do you think is creating better, more persuasive, ads right now:

McCain or Obama?

And why?

Ben

[AnitaAshland]

[Publisher-For-You]

[Stephen Davies]

[Publisher-For-You]

[nar321]

[Kyle Tully]

[alstone]

[mattmarshall]

Hi Ben:

Interesting topic.

I actually think the Obama camp is doing a better job.

Here's why:

It seems like both camps have a "central theme" that they are going to repeatedly touch on.

The Mccain camp seems to be going with the "Obama is a celebrity" theme and the Obama camp seems to be going with "Mccain as president will be 4 more years of the Bush administration."

Why do I think the Obama camp is doing a better job?

Well, because this is America and we freakin' WORSHIP celebrities. So if you want to attack someone, calling them a "celebrity" is not the best way to go about it.

So while the Mccain camp compares Obama to the world's most watched celebrities, the Obama camp is reminding us that Mccain has seven houses and is willing to fight the unpopular war in Iraq for the next 100 years.

That's my two cents.

Matt

[Publisher-For-You]

[Bensettle]

[Bensettle]

Hey Matt,

I hear ya on the celebrity thing... I just wonder if that's going to work in Obama's favor or not?

Obama did such a good job of convincing the media and his supporters he's some kind of squeaky-clean politician-of-change with no dirt on him (they ALL have some dirt) that I suspect any speck of dirt is going to have way more impact than it normally would if it were anyone else.

Kind of like when Dan Kennedy was told by a veteran speaker when he first started his speaking career: "Be careful how well you promote yourself in this business when you're just starting, all you'll do is speed up the pace at which people realize you're no good..." (paraphrased, it went something like that).

Anyway, should be interesting to watch either way...

Ben

[Publisher-For-You]

[Bensettle]

Relax Publisher, this is about advertising, not the "issues" -- which nobody ever said were boring (just the idea of two guys talking about them without acknowledging each other, which will never happen anyway).

This ain't the place to discuss political issues or disagreements.

Now, as for your advertising thought... are the ads silly?

Some may seem like it.

But even if they are, they are designed to hit certain hot buttons.

Take that pastor stuff, for example.

In West Virginia, all that media exposure on him crippled Obama in that state during the primaries. (If memory serves, Hillary took it in a landslide).

And I suspect McCain's people will trot that stuff out again in their ads in that area during the general campaign -- it's a proven "hot button" issue for them.

This stuff is all relative -- like ALL marketing -- to who they are targeting, and not everyone as a whole all the time.

That's why these guys will spend most of their money on ads in the so-called "battle ground" states (like Virginia, for example), and all but ignore the ones they know they have a lock on (or the ones they know they will never win.)

Ben

[Publisher-For-You]