Regardless of personal political views, I hope you’re watching the Obama campaign with as much wonder as I am. They are reaching the ever-coveted twenty-somethings in droves, inspiring people to fund campaign events with their own credit cards, and engaging people to get involved in the political process who have never even stepped into a voting booth.
With my organizational leadership hat on, here are a few thoughts:
1. His message is primarily one of hope, but he couches it in the message of “don’t let them tell you what you can’t do.” It’s the same strategy as the “Truth” campaign - play on peoples’ inherent sense of justice and mobilize them to act.
2. He’s the “I want to have a beer with that guy” guy, but not because he’s the “everyman.” It’s more about the desire to be around his kind of focus. It’s not the “Bill Clinton” kind of beer test, it’s much more like “I’d like to have a beer with Obama, but not because we’re going to tell jokes and watch the game. I want to know what he knows that I don’t.”
3. His campaign design ethic is impeccable. Simple, elegant, yet still very presidential. DESIGN MATTERS CRITICALLY. It’s the price of entry to get twenty-somethings to pay attention. (We can’t think design is icing on the cake…that goes for systems/processes as well as outward appearance and product.) Our good friend Lisa Johnson has written extensively on this.
4. He neutralizes his opponents’ arguments about experience by showing them why his inexperience is a good thing. (It connects with the Millenials’ “I’m so special and I’m destined for great things” belief and ethic.)
5. His message is one of action, not defense. (He’s unapologetic.)
6. If I hear “Yes We Can” one more time, I will probably get sick. Seriously. But it shows the power of a very concise, simple aspirational message that deeply resonates with the core felt needs of his target. (What is that for you?)
Again, this is not in any way an endorsement of Obama or his politics. It’s simply a dissection of how a first-term Junior Senator from the Midwest can quickly and efficiently give his message a rocket pack.
In this interview, 
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