Some 33 million viewers were present at the meeting

A few hours of the electoral verdict, Barack Obama can already avail of a trophy: that of champion marketer of the year 2008, awarded this month by the Association of National Advertisers. The Democratic candidate has so prevailed on Apple and Nike, also in the race. "When I look at her campaign, I think that we all, professional marketing, have a lot of lessons to learn", said Angus Macaulay of the Agency Internet Rodale Marketing Solutions. Renowned for his impeccable mastery of "collaborative" technologies of the Web, which allowed him to build a network of donors and volunteers unprecedented mobilized with the precision of a Swiss clock, the Barack Obama campaign team has not neglected to traditional tools. As the clip, for example, but a clip reviewed and corrected.

Six days of the elections, the team of the Illinois Senator has launched, Wednesday evening October 29, the most ambitious operation since the purchase, last summer, $ 5 million of advertising during the Olympics. Seven days of the election, the Democratic candidate has orchestrated the simulcast of the "infomercial" (or "adtertainment" in English) half an hour on seven channels, including the three major national networks CBS, NBC and Fox. Cost estimated by the experts: 45 million for the whole operation. A number not confirmed officially; only one $ 4 million for the purchase of advertising space is assumed by the Obama team. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, Director of the Al Gore documentary "A truth" inconvenient, the film opens Golden fields undulate under a vast sky, explicit reference to the opening of the famous poem by Katharine Lee Bates "America the Beautiful". The camera plunges on the faces compassionate concern an attentive crowd, while rises the voice of the Narrator, Barack Obama. The twenty-five minutes skillfully interwoven her personal story of four families in difficulty, selected according to their demographic and geographic representativeness. No chance in this case: almost all are from States critical Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky where the part is not yet won for the Illinois Senator. And in a context referring to an intimate version of the Oval Office, the Democratic candidate lists the key points of his program on the tone both passionate about and put the providential man, that he has played since the beginning of his campaign. For Tom Shales, critical of the "New York Times" television, "the tone and texture even film recall clip from campaign for Ronald Reagan, an approach designed to meet and secure the public opinion".

The last key

David Axelrod, the strategist of the Obama campaign, explained that the format of thirty minutes was selected to decide with the advertising noise. "The waves are awash with spots of 30 seconds and it is difficult to be heard," he said, adding that the date should weigh on the still undecided voters in a few days. Some 33 million viewers were present at the meeting. The exercise was commonplace at the time when television was still the best vehicle of political propaganda, and where the interactivity between the author and recipient of the message was even not contemplated. But such an initiative had not been taken since the Ross Perrot campaign in 1992.

Above all, for the Democratic candidate, he was put the last touches on a campaign found to be without fault by the experts. "Barack Obama began the campaign with an identity and a message which is never disposed." It is not only talked about change, he demonstrated since the beginning with a very personal story about life and death, observes John Reffue, consultant in political communication strategy. It was a rare discipline, by never swerving from his initial message. "By contrast,"John McCain has been very difficult to decide what it represents, said Audrey Haynes, Professor of political science at the University of Georgia, specialized in media campaign strategies. The image of the "reformer" all not with the will of the party to maintain the status quo, so he had to juggle a speech to the Republican base and another for the independent and undecided. A tension that the arrival of Sarah Palin has made even more untenable. "Reverse, criticized during the primaries for the importance it has given to the General ideas, at the expense of the details of his political program, Barack Obama reached the objective dreamed of any candidate: embody people's aspirations, so as to enlist his supporters in his wake. "He has realized that the most effective Presidents in American political history are those who were able to communicate to the public of major general ideas," said Charlton McIlwan, Professor of political science at New York University. It is the examples of Ronald Reagan, for which a proud America ought to represent the force in a world gripped by the cold war, as well as Bill Clinton, the message on the advent of the 21st century America had lasting hit the spirits.

Participate and get involved

Already, the message of change hammered by Barack Obama allowed him to transform the issue of race in politics. "Not only it has reformed the perception of the présidentiable black man, but he has instilled the notion that voting for him because he is black is excellent, due to the scope of this Act for the country," adds Charlton McIlwan. Simultaneously, the direct appeal to the individual action was the Red wire of the campaign for the Democratic candidate. More than 600 million of funds have enabled Walnut waves radio or television local and national across the country, including in States traditionally considered negligible, or lost in advance. But the mass movement observed through the creation of hundreds of activists teams field is still the most remarkable phenomenon of the campaign. "We are trying to convince public opinion that the only way to break the deadlock, to overcome the special interests and lobbyists, is to participate and get involved," said Barack Obama to John Stewart, in issuing the satirical "The Daily Show".

By contrast, John McCain has led a traditional campaign around the ability to dominate the daily news cycle. A strategy that worked in his favour for several weeks after the announcement of the appointment of Sarah Palin, significantly reducing the gap between the two candidates in the polls. But a fragile strategy which, in the test of time, could not prevent the alienation of a part of the electorate for the Governor of Alaska and is not enough to hide the economic vulnerability of John McCain.

Remains to be seen what will take us voters invited today to the ballot box.