The Obama SMS: (Un-)gratifying instantification
(Credit:
Textually)
"Be the first to know whom Barack picks as his running mate," had been the campaign's promise. The only problem: Those who had signed up to be the first to know, were not the first to know. About three hours before the Obama campaign deployed their SMS blast, John King of CNN broke the news, leaked from "Democratic sources." The "artificial exclusivity" of one-to-one marketing was undercut by the familiar means of traditional broadcasting. The thunder of Web 2.0 campaigning was stolen by old-school TV news coverage. The utterly disciplined Obama campaign seemed to have lost control for a moment and experienced one of its rare glitches. The "eventization" of news -- a social media paradigm so masterfully applied by the Obama camp -- was "uneventized" by CNN's preemptive strike. CNN suspended the suspense. What was supposed to be gratifying instantification - "all for this one moment," as Lufthansa's advertising slogan goes, collectively shared -- became a shallow confirmation email devoid of any newsworthiness.
What this tells us: you gotta be faster! "Now is Gone," Brian Solis called his book about PR in the age of social media. Indeed. If CNN breaks tomorrow's news, you have to release yours yesterday.
Also read Tomi T. Ahonen's analysis including a great overview of SMS usage in the US.
Tim Leberecht is Frog Design's of vice president of marketing and communications. He has worked in the media, entertainment, and high-tech industries. Most recently, he was the head of corporate communications at Mindjet, a provider of mind-mapping software for the enterprise. Prior to Mindjet, he served as a press chief for the Athens 2004 International Olympic Torch Relay and in marketing communications for Deutsche Telekom in Germany. Tim runs the iPlot blog, and has published and spoken about branding, organizational communication, social media, and attention economics. Tim is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
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If there's a leak the media will use it. If CNet had enough pull they would have too.
- by twburger August 25, 2008 12:36 PM PDT
- My sister-in-law showed up to a family lunch sporting an Obama - Biden campaign button she received on the same day as the announcement. Since the design, manufacture, and distribution on thousands of button across America would have taken several days and involved many people, this "Be the first" offer was really only an attempt to send message sent out a few hours ahead of the general official announcement. The true insiders were, as usual, the campaign workers and leaks to the traditional press were inevitable and probably expected.
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(4 Comments)It was not really a notable media event, but was a very successful method of obtaining many email addresses and cell phone numbers.
As for the announcement not being a success due to taking about 15 minutes to send several hundred thousand text messages - utter rubbish. As a technologist and systems analyst I can professionally attest that this was a well planned and well executed operation. If these people can run the country as well as they run a campaign Americans will have a prosperous and healthy future with Obama as president.