By Their Tchotchkes Shall You Know Them

Presidential campaigns have long provided opportunities to extend the brand through giveaways and promotions – think of the Eisenhower potholder or the McKinley lunch pail (tying into the theme of "a full dinner bucket").

What do this year's extensions tell us about the McCain and Obama brands? Despite McCain’s claim that "this is, indeed, a change election," the main navigational items on his home page are Creating Jobs, Strategy, Decision Center and – ahem – Golf Gear. Giving equal weight to job creation and golf makes one wonder whether Republicans can simultaneously be the party of change and the country club. Click through and buy a Father's Day McCain Golf Pack, or a McCain Divot Tool (in a recession, which populist can cough up $25.00 for a divot tool?). Other promotional items include the Faith of My Fathers DVD and the McCain St. Patrick's Travel Mug (for beer?). To be sure, the list is rounded out by a Go Green McCain Tote Bag with Recycle Logo.

Obama, true to his theme of a fresh approach, begins his roster of promotional items with Artists for Obama, including the print Progress by Scott Hansen, who writes: "I see Barack Obama as a leader who can inspire people to effect change and who himself can effect change. As an artist, it was only natural for me to want to create something that visually echoed these sentiments."

Any ideas on alternative extensions to promote either of these candidates?

Comments

[Sean Tiner]

This entry causes one to question: Just how "cool" is John McCain? Well, lets take a look. He has over 55 thousand Myspace friends. Yes, that's kinda cool ...but Obama has over 390 thousand.

Okay, so this is not a popularity contest. Well, lets take a look at his website. Today, McCain is still offering the Father's Day Golf Pack, if you donate $50 dollars. ...First of all, I thought Father's Day was Sunday?

And, I'm sure Dad would really "impress" his friends with a shiny new set of golf balls. How many people that McCain is promising to "help," actually golf? ...If he is promising to help Americans with lower gas prices, I'm sure these same people really enjoying driving to golf course and using their disposable income to play.

Wouldn't you rather give your Dad a cool piece of art? Thanks Obama.

Okay, so McCain joined the Go Green bandwagon and is offering 20 eco-friendly products. Don't you think that offering one or two would be eco-friendly? Why does he need to create 20 eco-friendly products? Isn't that counter-intuitive?

McCain's eco-friendly store first four offerings are polo shirts. How "cool" will it be sporting an eco-friendly polo shirt? Once again, we are staying with the golf theme. Is that "really cool?"

Does McCain have a hot girl endorsing him on Youtube? Maybe, but she is probably wearing a one of his "cool" golf shirts. ....And I imagine that she does not compare to ObamaGirl, which has over 8.7 million views to date on Youtube.

Well, if you think that content and "cool" do not produce results, think again. As of today, McCain's website is ranked 2,304 in the US. Okay, that's kinda cool. ....But Obama's is ranked 364 (according to Alexa). ...I think Obama wins the "cool" factor.

[Spec Work - Jason Hughes]

Inspirational post, gentlemen. I feel inclined to offer, for your inspection, tchotchke ideas for a few of the possible ticket combinations. Give me your expert opinions (I'm a new marketing student, after all, and could use it.)
Thanks for prompting this post (and line of thinking).
http://specwork.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/the-mccain-pullover-vs-arthouse-obama/