By: Irina Skaya
Bob Dylan’s song, “The Times They Are A-Changin” is truer today than ever before. As Martinez and Garcia become two of the top twenty most-common surnames, and salsa outsells ketchup, the most notable change is the victory of the first African-American President-elect Barack Obama. How did the first black president win the 2008 election when so many Americans thought it was merely impossible?
Roland S. Martin, American journalist and CNN contributor spoke to 250 marketers at the Multicultural Marketing Conference about the important role the Latino vote played in the 2008 election. Not only did this year’s election had a record Hispanic turnout, but Latinos played a key role in swinging the election outcome. In the past, Cuban-Americans who used to make up the majority of Hispanic population in Florida have consistently voted Republican. Today, the Hispanic population is much more diverse, comprised of Puerto Ricans, Central and South Americans—this shift in population and the combination of black and Hispanic voters have directly influenced the 27 electoral votes in the swing state of Florida.
The credit for Obama’s win doesn’t only go to record turnouts of Hispanic and black voters, but to his flawless presidential campaign. I agree with Martin—his campaign is the epitome of an integrated marketing campaign. Its structure is already being studied and will continue to be talked about. One interesting thing that Martin pointed out was the many Americans believed Hillary Clinton was going to win the primaries because after all, she had the “money, the resources and the staff,” not to mention the popularity as First Lady. Obama had to start from scratch. However, he recognized the generational shift, targeting the youth demographic. His team was ‘right on the money’ to use social networks to target the youth population that would otherwise not be as politically active. One other thing that Obama did was he did not target the African American population because he had their vote already. He targeted the undecided voters in swing states like Florida. In October, just weeks prior to the election, I was watching television in my hotel room at the Annual Masters of Marketing Conference, and I remember thinking about the frequency of the political ads for Obama. He spent his ad dollars wisely, on target audience whom he depended on to win.
The practices of advertisers must change and so should television programming. Martin said the ads and programming must reflect the changes in the population. He asked advertisers, “How do you in your shops begin to operate as of January 20th, 12:01 p.m.?" He didn’t answer marketers with a clear-cut answer, but he did leave them with a smart advice, “You might want to change it up a little bit or you’ll be left behind. “
Obama's victory speech:
Recent Comments