PSILOG
BE EVERYWHERE BUT BE ALIGNED.
by Philip De Wulf on 05/10/2009
Tags strategy Bond van Adverteerders David Plouffe Obama election BVA campaign
Key learnings from a meeting with David Plouffe, campaign director of the Obama 08 election.
Philip was able to ask David Plouffe what it takes to convince a leader not to go for the mainstream sentiment as detected in regular market research and polling but instead to show leadership by doing what "seems to be right". The answer was as brilliant as it was straightforward. "If you know where you are going, that's easy. If your strategy is clear, 95% of decisions are easy. I am a great fan of "no incident decision making" he said.
Key learnings from the Obama 08 campaign as he presented them at the 90 th anniversary event of the Dutch BVA ( Bond van Adverteerders) include :
Strategize first, then work hard to execute the strategy - referring to the strategic choice to expand the registered voters base in certain segments and the effort it took.
Just be everywhere, but make sure your messages are aligned - in describing the cross media strategy that ultimately helped Barack Obama to be elected and that was vigorously checked on whether messages were aligned 24/7 from the perspective of the campaign volunteers and potential voters.
Don't go for awareness, go for engagement. Why settle for making people aware if you can get them to contribute time and money to your cause ? An approach, much in line with our view on employee engagement through communities of practice.
Want to know more or discuss David's views further ? drop us a note - give us a call - we'll make the time for a real conversation on this...