The Fastest Rising Brand Ever

Those who visit Where's My Jetpack? with any frequency know that I love politics. It is drama in real time, changing from day to day, and on any given day, crazy things can happen. It's an unpredictable soap-opera. I also love politics because it's about branding, public relations and advertising on an accelerated and ever-changing schedule. It's impromptu theater in-the-round, and in this election year, some amazing and astonishing things are happening.

Before I go on, I will divulge that I have never voted for a winner in a presidential election, which made me a loser when it came to Clinton I as well as Bush II. I always end up on the disappointed side of the electorate. I am a registered voter, but I am registered Independent, which means I don't get to vote in my state's primary. I am a bystander when it matters - when we are selecting those who will contend in our national election.

That said, there is a brand emerging in American politics the likes of which has never been seen. Chalk it up to a Connected Age, where a person can create a video and have it seen by millions in a matter of days (if it's good enough), or where a speech can be broadcast worldwide with the click of a mouse. Or maybe we can write it off to good speech-writing , where the finely tuned pen of a young wordsmith can put words into the mouth of a politician and cause a nation to dream.

Imagine a young, upstart new cola, challenging Pepsi and Coke for a majority of market share, and you have the candidacy of Barack Obama. Imagine Obama Cola suddenly replacing Coke and Pepsi on the convenience store shelves. Imagine consumers creating Obama Cola videos that suddenly went viral and made the Diet Coke + Mentos video look like a bad and forgettable episode of The Sarah Conner Chronicles. Imagine sales of Coke and Pepsi falling. People would be plenty pissed. Especially the makers of Pepsi and Coke.

Those who visit Where's My Jetpack? with any frequency know that I love America. I make fun of her, of course. She's an easy target. But stink though she does, she's the best thing afloat. I do not, however, confuse my flag with my God, (apologies to my many atheist readers) and my star-spangled banner never died for me. I don't think we rule the world, and I don't think this land is somehow magically destined to keep the universe safe for democracy. Politics and religion don't belong together, and anyone who brings their God into politics had best be watched closely.

But not since I was a regular attendee at a Black Pentecostal church in Springfield, Missouri have I been so inspired by the orations of a preacher. Or rather, a politician. Obama does not out-and-out invoke God in his speeches, in fact, he keeps God pretty separate. But he has injected something spiritual into American politics, and I hope it can't be stopped. It certainly can't be duplicated, and anyone who tries (and they all have) only ends up looking like a late-to-the-game pretender. I suppose it really isn't all about speech writing. because if you put any of Obama's speeches in front of any other candidate, they would ring false - and fall flat.

I don't know if I'd vote for the man if he in fact does win the nomination of his party, but his brand is something to behold. I likely disagree with him politically more than I agree with him, but I can't help being stopped in my tracks when he's got the mic.

The video below, with uncountable viewings in only four days, sums up what I'm trying to say quite nicely. You can't watch this video and not be moved, regardless of your political persuasion. It was created from a speech delivered only one month ago.



While I would of course welcome the comments of my fellow Americans on this subject, I'd be most interested in the views of my Aussie, Canadian, English, European, African, Indian and Asian readers on what is happening in this country. What do you folks make of what's going on over here? Or does it even matter?

Thanks to Catch Up Lady for alerting me to this video.