Brand Obama, Apple and Coca Cola, What Do They Really Have In Common?

This is a special day in history. Barack Obama sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and the America's first African-American president today, it is a big day. The last 16 months, we learned that Obama had not only vision for America, but possessed the commitment, intellect, strength, character and political brilliance to rise to the top leadership. He is wonderful lift of the human spirit against seemingly insurmountable odds – an inspiration for young people all over the world. Obama's popularity and inspiration will impact the next generation significantly. 

The world is eager to see a great leader in action. Many hope that Obama will address the global climate crisis, by furthering the efforts already made to unite America and the world in working towards being more environmentally conscious and sustainability. His speech was just so inspiring even outside of America people around the world are very much looking forward to this change, especially in the "climate change" position on the past the Bush Administration ignored, a very short sighted and narrow visioned administration. 

What does the young people think of the Obama's brand? Here’s a roundtable of 8 teenagers sitting around in my house. This is not a focus group but just friends of my teenager sons. Let’s hear what these young people have to say about the future – technology, politics and culture after watching Obama’s inauguration speech. 

How important are your cell phone and other communication devices to you? Overwhelmingly, the cell phone is most important (equally as the iPod) , mostly to stay connected to friends and family; taking snap shots; and to a lesser degree for music listening. They’re also really, really fond of texting and is becoming their core communication tool. Email is considered slow and wonder how email in its current form will survive the next generation. Blackberry has a lot of work to do to secure this future. When asked about SMS ad, it is a no no. One said he prefers his parent to contact him through SMS even when he is around at home working in his room. Another person confesses technology in general makes life more stressful, because there is not place to hide. It is the paradox of technology. 

What’s your attitude towards advertising? Everyone seems to be able to talk about specific funny ads, but overwhelmingly, no one would believe any thing they hear, watch or read. They admit that they often learn about these new products through ads, but the source of information is through forums and communities. They are quick to form an opinion and 2 out of the 6 considered themselves opinion leaders in their social groups. Some believe that after clothing, a cellphone tells the most about their social status, they disagree. No one in the group cares much about the brand of the phone, as long as it has some basic features. It is not a status tool as many have thought. They think that all big advertising money spent by the handset brands is a total waste of money. Wonder what Nokia, Sony Erickson and Motorola has to say.They should start thinking of new way to engage these young people.

Let’s talk about the brands that you love? Everybody picks a different one: Apple, Urban Outfitters, Obama, Xbox, Coke, In-N-Out Burger and Addidas. They talked about how much these companies are willing to listen to uses and respond to their needs. Surprisingly no one likes the Apple ads, although everyone loves the brand. Wonder how much the advertising actually contributed to Apple's  brand equity if any at all. I think the stores are doing more than the ads.

Do you think the world will be change for the better after today? 

“I think Obama is going to bring a much-needed change to the world. His ideas will make people more open-minded, and he will inspire them to get more involved.” 

“With a new US president comes a time for hope and possibilities. Here’s what they say they hope to see happen during Obama’s first term as president of the United States."

“My hope for him is that he will be able to fix the recession and end the messy war in the Middle East quick.” “I hope he cleans up the giant mess and put the focus back into education and out planet.”

“I would like to see actual changes happen, he is inspiring us and many people at our age. You don’t find too many inspiring figures around us today.” 

“I hope that he can sort out the economic crisis and help with global warming. I hope that as president, Obama will make the right choices in fixing the current state of our economy.” 

Obama is probably the most popular brand built in the shortest period of time (shorter than Google). Obama, Apple, Coke and very much same of a kind. They share a lot of attributes the say way the president is presenting himself. They're meant to look transparent, empowered, hopeful, accessible and democratic to a certain degree. Non-intimidating and trustworthy. At its heart, authenticity is about practicing what you preach; knowing about who you are and what you do best. When a brand's rhetoric gets out of sync with customers' actual experiences, the brand's integrity and future persuasiveness suffers.  It is something which is hard to manufacture even with lots of advertising and packaging craft. Being able to project an identity that people are willing to credit with being authentic is a very hard thing to do. But Obama, Apple, Coke are all doing a great job.