Interview with: Jim Messina, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, 2012 Campaign Manager for President Obama

1. Interview with: Jim Messina, White
House Deputy Chief of Staff for
Operations, 2012 Campaign
Manager for President Obama
President Obama’s re-election campaign
has valuable lessons for Chief
Marketing Officers (CMOs) of
consumer-facing companies, says Jim
Messina, White House Deputy Chief of
Staff for Operations, 2012 Campaign
Manager for President Obama.
Obama’s 2012 political campaign was
unprecedented on many different levels,
as it revolutionised the way technology
was used. Its two-pronged focus on
data and digital marketing made
success possible, Messina adds.
Messina is a past speaker at the
marcus evans CMO Summit.
How did you approach digital
marketing in President Obama’s re-
election campaign? Why and how
was the campaign a success?
When we started the campaign, we
decided to completely revolutionise the
way technology had previously been
used in a political campaign. In the four
years since his first campaign, Facebook
had expanded, Twitter had become a
predominant form of communication
and the effectiveness of TV ads had
significantly diminished.
We wanted technology to do a very
simple, yet almost impossible thing - to
develop a personal connection with
every voter. We married digital
marketing with an unprecedented focus
on data to target individual voters, and
it was very successful. We broke
support and voter turnout records.
How did you merge politics and
technology? What advice or lessons
could you share with CMOs?
One thing we learned is that the
validation of people’s friends and family
is very important, so one of our
ambitious goals was to use President
Obama’s supporters as ambassadors to
their family, friends and neighbours.
The digital world allowed us to do that.
We built an innovative programme
where supporters’ Facebook contacts
were matched with our data. We shared
information on which of their contacts
were supporting the President and with
one click they were able to reach out to
their friends. In the last 96 hours of the
campaign, 6.6 million people reached
out to their friends, and 70-80 per cent
of those ended up supporting the
President.
These technologies have consumer
applications too. Companies want more
information on their target audience and
how best to reach out to them.
What changes should CMOs
embrace?
Young consumers are changing their
habits almost yearly. Five years ago it
was Facebook, then Twitter and now
Instagram. They communicate via text
more than by email. Many more people
own smart phones today, so even
though it is harder to programme
content for them, marketers must meet
people where they are.
Companies have to figure out the
behaviour patterns of their target
audience, and how to have relevant
discussions with people. They should be
platform neutral, talking to folks on
multiple social media sites. We had
departments dealing with each website
individually.
What about the actual message that
is communicated? What is
effective?
Messages have to be very targeted and
easy to understand, but the single most
important thing is genuineness. Typical
political spin does not work. People can
sniff them out. Everyone is also busier
today, so will see a lot less of these
messages. Marketers must narrowcast
directly to customers.
Any final words of advice?
Do not confuse tactics with the overall
strategy. Use data to find your market
and use the tools you have in front of
you more efficiently. Understand your
message and have people understand it
in a very clear and definable way.
People have so many other choices
today.
We married
digital
marketing
with an
unprecedented
focus on data
Marketing Lessons from
Obama’s Re-Election Campaign
Summit.Direct@marcusevanscy.com
CMO Summit 2015 Fact Sheet