It is March, and while Senator John McCain is busy consolidating the republican party base as the presumptive nominee, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue their battle royale for the top Democratic spot. Despite Camp Hillary’s assertions to the contrary, all signs and confounding mathematical formulations point toward an eventual Obama coronation in Denver later this summer.

Discounting the ongoing recount movements in Michigan and Florida, which could throw those states’ delegates back into the mix and Hillary back in the overall lead, the Senator from Illinois has momentum (two straight wins in Wyoming and Mississippi) and a clear delegate lead as we head into Pennsylvania in less than a week.

The past is often a good predictor of the future, and recent (very) historical indicators point to an eventual Obama-McCain title fight, with early odds giving Obama the slightest of edges. Let’s look at a couple of these indicators, one pertaining to the Democratic narrative, and the other to the general election, that let us make such a bold prediction:

Trend One: Obama continues to rake in the cash – lots of it

Sure, Hillary had a strong February, with a $35million fundraising haul. But Obama took it to another level, raising a record $55million during those same 29 days. $45million of that total originated online, including 90 percent coming by way of incremental, individual donations of $100 or less. We think this Internet thing may catch on, after all.

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It is a simple idea, really: orchestrating brand building and direct marketing (DM) into a synergistic harmony. Marketers use brand ads as instruments in the critical role of consumer awareness building. DM identifies prospective consumers and helps the sales team convert them to paying customers. Brand ads create an emotional connection, while DM uses persuasion and incentives to get the prospect to act, ultimately choosing your firm over a competitor. Achieving synchronization between the two is key in creating a seamless buying process for consumers, the kind which leads invariably toward a successful conversion.

An effective brand/response campaign combines branding ads across television, radio, print and online media channels, and joining them with response vehicles such as direct mail and e-mail. A successful marketer ties it all back to a centralized prospect database. The database connects these individual media channels into a closed-loop marketing system, adding power without increasing the media expenditure. It’s like fitting a Harley cruiser with a turbojet engine.

A well-executed brand/response campaign builds awareness, identifies qualified prospects and then leads them along the purchase path with a series of communications designed to educate and inform. Each message includes a purchase incentive and purchase mechanism. Over time, prospects progress from general interest, to desire, to conviction, and finally to buying your product or service. This approach recognizes the disparate levels of interest and purchase conviction among prospective consumers. It treats each one accordingly, without letting qualified prospects fall through the cracks because of some ill-suited, one-size-fits-all approach. Read more

Rick Milenthal wrote an excellent article in the Oct 29 issue of Ad Age. He makes the point that consumers don’t think in terms of media, but rather in terms of what they want to experience. It is therefore our job to create messages that are right for the “media mode.” We don’t need to stop consumers from tuning us out. Instead, most consumers want to know and learn more, and be engaged. In short, they want us to tune them in.

The best nugget plucked from the article is this concept of modes. Milenthal mentions that there could be an endless amount of modes, but he limits his explanation to 6 primary classifications:

1. Entertainment
2. Information
3. Discovery
4. Connecting
5. Sharing
6. Expressing

The entertainment and information modes have been around for while; it’s those last four that have come to the fore with the continued expansion of development of the Internet. Using simple tools such as Flickr, mySpace, and Twitter, it is now extremely easy to connect, share and express ourselves.

And, because consumers are able to self-regulate their digestion of each of these modes, it is imperative for us as marketers to match our message with the mode. No one wants to be inundated with information they don’t need when they are in the entertainment mode. Nor do they want to be (necessarily) interrupted while in the discovery mode. It is our mission to align the message with the consumer’s mode. Doing so will help our messages make it into the consumer conscience, and keep us from wasting our client’s marketing budget.

Great statement: It used to be that marketers sold commodities that people needed, by promoting practical and objective matters such as price and product features.  

These days, marketers cater more to consumer wants rather than needs.  Wants are things consumers covet for emotional reasons, like a $250.00 pair of Pumas or a $100,000 Porsche Cayenne.

What you are, what you want, what you love doesn’t matter. It’s all about how you sell it.

In 1960, advertising agencies were an all-powerful influence on the masses. Personal and professional manipulation and sexual exploits defined the workplace and closed the deals. The high profile fictitious Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency created advertising campaigns – from cigarettes to political candidates — better than anyone. It was a time of great ferment. Women had barely begun to come into their own. Librium and birth control were on the move. Ethics in the workplace, smoke-free environments, sexual harassment and ethnic diversity were workshops of the future.

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