Why Obama Is Unstoppable
What businesses can learn from his bully e-pulpit
Vol. 6, Issue No. 2 | January 19, 2010 By Denny Hatch
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IN THE NEWS
THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release, Jan. 7, 2010
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
THE SECRETARY ENERGY
THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY
THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
THE DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY
THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER
SUBJECT: Attempted Terrorist Attack on December 25, 2009: Intelligence, Screening, and Watchlisting System Corrective Actions
After receiving the conclusions of the White House-led review of the U.S. watchlisting system and the performance of the intelligence, homeland security, and law enforcement communities as related to the attempt to bring down a Detroit-bound flight on December 25 by detonating an explosive device, and a Department of Homeland Security-led review on Aviation Screening, Technology and Procedures; I have concluded that immediate actions must be taken to enhance the security of the American people...
/s/ Barack Obama
The presidential memo under IN THE NEWS came to my inbox, and I printed it out. It was the 751st e-mail I received from the Obama organization since the first effort I received back on March 5, 2008, titled, “What Happened Today.”
This one stunned me—the real deal, the actual take-no-prisoners, kick-ass directive to the cabinet and intel agencies from a controlled but obviously furious president ordering them to cease and desist the turf wars and set up an information sharing system pronto. Implied: “or else ...”
Back in March 2009, I requested to be put on the Obama e-mail list and sent a small donation. I have saved all Obama organization communications (so far) in my computers as a record of the most successful outreach to voters by a politician in the history of the world.
“Money is the mother’s milk of politics,” said the late Jesse H. “Big Daddy” Unruh, speaker of the California State Assembly.
Since 2007, the Obama campaign has built a database of 3.1 million supporters and raised more than $700 million, surpassing what all the candidates from both major parties combined collected in private donations in 2004.
It doesn't matter whether you like Obama, hate Obama or are somewhere in between. If you are in business—any business, consumer, B-to-B or nonprofit—and do not monitor how this extraordinary organization communicates with its constituency and prospects via e-mail, you're a damn fool.
This guy is a great communicator, and we can all learn from him.
The Secret of Success: Watch What Others Do
It’s a story most of my readers know—I heard the [then] US News & World Report circulation director, Dorothy Kerr, tell a luncheon meeting in 1982, “The way to be successful in direct mail is to see who’s mailing what, see which mailings come in over and over again (which means they are controls and making money), and then steal smart.”
I immediately started building an archive of junk mail, created a system to quantify and qualify the stuff, and reported on it in my newsletter, WHO’s MAILING WHAT!
Today, the WHO’S MAILING WHAT! archive has information on more than 200,000 mailings in 200 categories—business, consumer and nonprofit—going back 20 years. It includes marketing gold—nearly 1,000 grand controls that were mailed for three or more consecutive years.
Takeaways to Consider
- Since 2007, the Obama campaign has built a database of 3.1 million supporters and raised more than $700 million, equaling or surpassing what all the candidates from both major parties combined collected in private donations in 2004.
- It doesn't matter whether you like Obama, hate Obama or are somewhere in between. If you are in business—any business, consumer, B-to-B or nonprofit—and do not monitor how this extraordinary organization communicates with its constituency and its prospects via e-mail, you are a damn fool. This guy is a great communicator, and we can all learn from him.
- It was political direct mail pioneer Walter Weintz who first asked for contributions of money back in 1952. His rationale: (1) An influx of cash would help pay for the direct mail campaigns, and (2) those who send money have a stake on the outcome—like betting on a horse. They want their candidate to win and will spread the word among friends, family, neighbors and business colleagues.
- Obama supporters started receiving a dizzying array of seemingly personal e-mail messages from the candidate himself as well as many of his operatives—nationally, on the campaign trail and in Pennsylvania (my home state). They arrived in a variety of formats and typefaces—as emotionally charged memos, letters, position papers, fundraising efforts, invitations, thank-yous, and personal responses to those who wrote in with ideas and questions.
- “Creating direct mail without studying other people’s successful direct mail is like trying to do brain surgery without studying brains.”
—Axel Andersson - Same thing with e-mail.
- “Public relations is the business of letting people in on what you are doing."
—Evelyn Lawson - Barack Obama is doing that, and doing it very well.
Web Sites Related to Today's Edition
Presidential memo to cabinet and intel chiefs to clean up their act
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/potus_directive_corrective_actions_1-7-10.pdf
Sen. Barack Obama’s announcement of record-shattering $150 million fundraising total
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/us/politics/20donate.html
“Saint Elizabeth and the Ego Monster” in last week’s issue of New York magazine.
http://url2it.com/brl
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