Obama at Brandenburg? Priceless

Imagine Barack Obama, who has been accused of lacking foreign policy experience, standing before hundreds of thousands of cheering American ex-pats and Europeans at Germany’s landmark Brandenburg Gate. This is the very gate at which President Ronald Reagan taunted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”

It would be an electrifying YouTube moment. As a former network TV producer, I admire the staging, or what we call “establishing” the shot. The idea that his campaign even would consider such bold staging is a testimony to the skill of Barack Obama’s superb advance teams that work tirelessly to find the right TV backdrop.

Television staging is not new news, but you would think it is a foreign concept when you look at the McCain camp. Obama gave his “patriot” speech in Independence, Missouri. He gave his speech on racism in Philadelphia near the Liberty Bell. Both are symbolic shrines that speak poetry and help frame Obama’s messages.

McCain’s advance team, meanwhile, has flunked most of the visual staging tests. When Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, he did so at the Minneapolis-St.Paul convention center where the Republicans will hold their nominating convention this September. McCain’s staff replied that their guy’s speech — also long in the planning — would occur in New Orleans. This, they said would serve as a definitive counterpunch.

Obama’s was a beauty shot for the camera. McCain’s audio was poor; his staging a mess and lighting was horrible. Oh, and his campaign message was a muddle. Both back-to-back events compared the talents of both campaign staffs. Obama’s team smashed McCain’s.

Meanwhile, McCain has taken two overseas trips this year. One was to Europe, the Middle East and Iraq — these are his signature issues. A second was recently to Colombia, Mexico and Canada. None had any staging and none left any YouTube moment.

Btw, this is what MSNBC filed about McCain’s European/Middle Eastern campaign tour:

John McCain wrapped up his five-country swing to the Middle East and Europe by meeting with two familiar faces- one old and one new. In London this morning, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and McCain had breakfast together at the swanky Mandarin Oriental hotel. A quick photo-op for reporters before the official visit quickly became a reflection of McCain’s recent travels.

The swanky Mandarin Oriental. That worked for me…

In seeking out the Brandenburg Gate, Barack Obama’s advance team is displaying sheer cockiness and brilliance. It still may not happen. But the fact they are scoping out these symbolic locations demonstrates that they are completely outclassing the McCain advance team. (although he does have a new team in place).

In the visually-centric world in which we live, enduring YouTube (and TV news) moments are vital. This year they could determine who is the winner and the loser for the Oval Office.

In Recessionary Times Social Marketing Takes Off

Click Z’s always insightful Tessa Wegert reports that despite recessionary pressures on ad budgets, many advertisers are switching their media dollars to social media. She reports that advertisers say they are planning to increase their social marketing budgets by 48% this year, making it one of the top online outreach strategies for 2008.

Part of the reason is that social marketing campaigns are relatively cheap to launch. Yet there is a powerful underlying strength to social marketing that makes it so attractive. Corporations and non-profits are discovering that networks like Facebook can engage real consumers and can motivate them to join their company web sites to participate in their games and contests. It leads to building brand loyalty, a vital element in this competitive world.

Tessa notes that big line companies are waking up to the new opportunities. She reports, “Carnival Cruise Lines, Dell, ‘Fast Company’ magazine, Nike, Threadless, and Toyota — are exploring the microblogging application Twitter,” a growing social media site.

The economics are forcing advertisers to explore cheaper alternatives. But the switch to social marketing may have another unexpected effect: It will grow the popularity of social media sites — and begin to the close the gap between consumers and corporations.

Iranian Mullahs Are Using Photoshop

Here’s an interesting news flash: The PR arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards apparently faked the number of missile launches using photoshop.

Seven ways to keep up online

Here are some interesting aggregation and feeder tips.

The Father and Neutrality

From techcrunch:

Should the Internet be owned and maintained by the government, just like the highways? Vint Cerf, the “father of the Internet” and Google’s Internet evangelist, made this radical suggestion.

His comment was in the context of a bigger discussion about the threat to Net neutrality posed by the cable and phone companies, who are making moves to control the amount and types of bits that can go through their pipes.

Net neutrality and preventing broadband carriers from controlling Internet traffic or content is something that Google has a definite stake in. The Google page on the subject even links to grassroots groups the Open Internet Coalition, and SaveTheInternet. But the question should be whether Google’s dominance of Internet navigation, as well as advertising poses a greater threat to the future of a free Internet.