No matter who you voted for, this was an historic election.

With that in mind, there are five lessons all marketers can learn from both the Obama and McCain marketing campaigns. These are general principles that you can use, whether you’re selling a bar of soap or a political candidate. Here they are:

1. Stay on Message: Both candidates, but particularly Obama, developed a message strategy early in the campaign and never strayed from it. Obama’s theme was “Change” and McCain’s was “Country First.” Even when current events (like the economic melt-down) forced a change of focus, the overall theme stayed the same.
2. Occasionally, Do Something Unexpected: There will be those who disagree with us on this, but our point-of-view is that McCain’s selection of Palin was a brilliant move. Yes, she came up light on experience, but remember — prior to the announcement that she was going to be his running mate, McCain was dropping in the polls. The selection of Palin added a new energy to the campaign and, as a result, McCain’s numbers jumped 5 to 8 points, nearly putting him ahead of Obama.
3. Develop Grass Roots Campaigns: Both McCain and Obama used Social Media to inspire their political base. You could argue that Obama did a better job of it, but both candidates recognized that a good marketing campaign uses everything from slick TV commercials to text messages to communicate their messages.
4. Stay Above the Fray: It doesn’t matter if you’re Crest Toothpaste, Enterprise Car Rental or Starbucks, when you’re the leader in the category, it’s your job to take the high road. We’re fortunate that the days of Bush-era “Swiftboat” techniques are behind us, but it’s particularly interesting that Obama, as the market leader through most of the campaign, followed the classic marketing principle that the leader in any campaign should take the high road and rise above any mud slinging that goes on.
5. Be Relentless: Do you know that John McCain flew to 5 different states on the last day of the campaign? Remember, as a marketer, your job is to keep pushing to the very end of your campaign. Don’t let up. Don’t relax. When your campaign is completed, there’ll be plenty of time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your success. But until that time, stay on message and keep pushing for victory.

There are many other lessons to be learned from this campaign. If you have thoughts or idea on how marketers of all stripes can learn from the successes of the McCain and Obama campaigns, let us know about them!

Eight years ago, the “Wassup” phrase helped sell millions of cases of Budweiser. Today, it’s being used to help sell a political candidate.

Charles Stone III, who created the original campaign for Budweiser, has revived the phrase in a campaign posted on YouTube. Since Friday, one version of the ad has been viewed more than 2 million times.

Neither Anheuser-Busch nor its ad agency Omnicom can do much to stop the use of the phrase because neither company owns the “Wassup” slogan or concept. At one point, the brewer paid Mr. Stone about $37,000 to license the idea for five years, but that deal expired three years ago. As such, the slogan is arguably Mr. Stone’s to use as he wishes.

In an article in The Wall Street Journal, attorney Douglas J. Wood said, “If First Amendment butts up against copyright law, First Amendment would generally win, particularly when it’s done in a political context.” Since these ads would likely be seen as parody in a court of law, Mr. Stone probably has a case for his right to use the phrase. (In a separate incident, the First Amendment protection of parody helps explain why Al Franken can call Rush Limbaugh a “Big, Fat Liar” and get away with it.)

Reaction to the ad campaign hasn’t been all positive. Comments on the YouTube page where the ad is posted have ranged from support to outrage.

If we recall correctly, the Busch family are staunch Republicans. Should Anheuser-Busch sue to stop the use of the phrase for political purposes?  What’s your opinion?

The game of politics is about getting your message out to the greatest number of voters possible. (More specifically, it’s about getting your message out to the greatest number of undecided voters possible, but that’s another story.)

Both John McCain and Barack Obama have run smart, relatively clean campaigns. (Thank goodness that George Bush’s “Swiftboat” campaigns are a thing of the past.)

Of particular note is the use of new and emerging media to market each party’s candidate. Both candidates have used the internet as well as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other new marketing tools to get their message out to the public.

But there’s a new twist — Barack Obama has just launched an ad campaign inside an Xbox 360 video game called Burnout Paradise. The ability to place ads inside video games is a technology that’s less than two years old, so it’s not a brand new technology. But what is brand new is that it’s being used by one of the political candidates to spread their message.

Senator Obama’s use of Xbox is definitely something worth checking out, no matter what side of the political fence you sit on.

Speaking of which, The 60 Second Marketer has come up with three things almost all Americans can agree on about politics:

1) That, generally speaking, this has been a fascinating, uplifting, invigorating election;

2) That both candidates are good, decent, honest people with a lot to offer our country;

3) That George W. Bush was in way, way over his head and should have stuck to running baseball teams.