The “change” theme was a brilliant, if obvious, campaign mantra for Obama. In an election year when so much of the electorate was unhappy with the course of the country you should run on a platform that promises to bring change, and in fact all the major candidates did at some level — Obama was just more convincing. It was the perfect theme for an extremely well branded and run campaign. One that has made marketers envious. And what do marketers do when they have envy? They copy.
From Pepsi’s new Obamaish logo to Ikea’s new Change Starts at Home campaign, consumer brands are out in full force to capitalize on the goose bumps of Obamamania. I personally find it slightly insulting for a Swedish company like Ikea to insinuate that the answer to people’s current misfortune is a new bookshelf and that Pepsi somehow signifies hope. But I guess I should be happy that for once a politician (one that I happen to like and admire) ran a campaign deserving of such flattery.
The other issue is that people don’t seem to understand that “change” was a campaign theme not an administration theme. Change happened. Barack is our new President. Now it is time to get to work. The theme of his Inaugural address was “Renewing America’s Promise” which has a much more get down to work ring to it. It is even what appears on the presidential limousine.
So, a word to all the marketers out there. Get this change thing out of your system quickly and move on, because as it says on www.whitehouse.gov: “Change has come to America.” It isn’t still coming, it is here. So let’s get to work.
