Marketing a Political Candidate - The Emergence of Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin the small town girl who goes fishing

Two weeks ago maybe ten people in the lower 48 states knew of Sarah Palin. Three nights ago, over 40 million people watched her give a speech.

America became enamored with this woman overnight. The question is, why?

Could it have anything to do with successful marketing? Nooo, of course not, right? Politics is all about the issues. Right? I thought so;-)

Seriously though, Sarah Palin is perhaps the most well marketed political candidate of all time. Sure, Barrack Obama is popular, but he wasn’t on the cover of Vogue Magazine and US Weekly the very same week he was introduced to the country.

No, Sarah Palin is a case and point of sophisticated political marketing. She’s got a pretty face. She’s young. She’s got attitude. She’s a small town girl. She does sexy things like hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, etc. She got a lovely family, one of whom has down syndrome (the empathy hook).

In other words, Sarah Palin has something everyone can love. The guys can fall in love with her either as sex symbol, as a woman who knows her place (a baby producing machine), or as a rare girl who would actually enjoy hanging out with the guys on a hunt. The women can fall in love with her as a game changer, breaking through the glass ceiling. They can also admire her for the amazing achievement of raising 5 kids while running a government (and one that borders Russia, no less).

What Sarah Palin (and to a lesser extent, Barrack Obama) have shown us is that politics in the 21st century is largely about the branding of personalities. As you well know, the candidate who brands him or herself as a likable person often wins. Who could you drink a beer with? Who could you go fishing with? Who can you relate most to?

But in this election the game has changed. We have witnessed the unthinkable. In less than a week, America discovered a personality (via the Republican branding machine) and fell in love with that personality. That’s never happened before. Really. History has been made. And it wasn’t the nomination of a woman that made it. It was happening of an unthinkable story - that somehow the American people would get to know, become enamored with and accept the nomination of Sarah Palin for Vice President.

In this day of marketing mayhem, anything is possible I guess….  And we just saw it happen.

To get a fuller picture of what I’m talking about, go here to experience the marketing of Sarah Palin in pictures.