Obama Continues To Leverage Digital to Fuel WOM , Reaps Media Dividends

While the BIG news that the traditional political networks and rags were talking about over the weekend was dominated by the Sen. Obama's choice for VP, Sen. Joe Biden, one of the interesting underlying stories is the role that digital continues to play in this election, and specifically by camp Obama. Yes, the blogosphere was all a-Twitter with conspiracy theories that Sen. Obama chose to notify both the media and consumers about his VP choice starting at 3AM on Saturday morning as a last "slap-in-the-face" response to not only NOT picking Clinton, but to her 3AM phone call ad
but as the string of emails (and SMS text messages) above indicates, Obama continues to deftly harness digital in a manner that time and again successfully informs and galvanizes at the grassroots level, and provides a halo effect that hits mainstream media and the masses. This continues to be a master class in the use and power of social communications in a way that will forever change the face of American politics, and takes the Howard Dean 2004 election online initiatives to a new level. Pay attention folks - video, viral, SMS, social networking, email - these tools are all being orchestrated in a grand way, as they continue to not only keep Sen. Obama in the news cycle, but continues the two-way dialogue direct and unfiltered with consumers. The interesting story will come in November and beyond if Sen. Obama wins, and if/how he uses the very tools moving forward that will have played such a critical role in his election.

My First Time...

The memory is so vivid - my body trembling, shaking, the tears in my eyes and the sweat that broke out over my body. Get your mind out of the gutter, I'm not talking about sex, but rather my first time experiencing and participating in what has since been dubbed as the ubiquitous and ever elusive "viral campaign." I was working in experiential youth marketing at a big agency working on a big account. One of my colleagues sent me an IM with the link and a note: "you have to see this! It's hysterical!" The link brought me to what was then iFilm, and the clip was as follows:



Yes, that did it for me; I fell hook, line and sinker for that 15-second clip, dubbed "Afroninja,". The first few hundred times I watched it I was overcome with guilty, pleasurable waves of uncontrollable laughter, and to this day when I look at the clip, it brings a big smile to my face and more often than not elicits at least a chuckle or two. In those first few innocent viewings, I couldn't wait to send the clip to everyone I knew, and did so with reckless abandon and gusto. I was so happy to be the guy in the know, the "influencer" sending all my friends a clip that I knew that would enjoy as much as I did. Fast forward years later, after The Dramatic Chipmunk and Chocolate Rain videos, and it turns out that Mark Hicks, the stuntman whose misfortune while filming a Nike commercial blazed a trail throughout the net, may end up having the last laugh. He is apparently making a full fledged movie called Afroninja: Destiny based in large part on that very clip. Check out the great interview with Mark on Wired.