The notion of a political candidate as a "brand", with brand attributes and living up to the implied promises made to buyers, or in this case voters, is nothing new. This election season, however, the failure of either candidate to live up to the brand attributes that got them this far may have starker consequences. This seems more pronounced with the "new brand", Barack Obama, who has the most to lose if he enables his "competitors", John McCain's campaign team, to mis-position his "product". Team Obama, if they want success in the "marketplace" in November, would be best advised to follow the old football saying that you must dance with who brung ya. Translation: abandon at your peril that which made you successful in the first place. NYT columnist Tom Friedman makes mention of this today.
"Obama got this far because many voters projected onto him that he could be the leader of an American renewal. They know we need nation-building at home now — not in Iraq, not in Afghanistan, not in Georgia, but in America. Obama cannot lose that theme."
If you're an Obama supporter, you've got to be getting nervous that the "theme" is fading from view. Is your guy is backing off on his brand promises? Next time, we'll take a look at how McCain is doing.
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