Original Maverick - Owning the right word

It isn't perfect but it is a vast improvement for the McCain campaign. Their new message, "Original Maverick" is starting to hit the right tone and message.

This, after a disastrous attempt by the McCain campaign to convince the American public that Obama is extremely popular and that is a bad thing. Running ads with Obama's face all over the screen, with massive crowds chanting, "Obama, Obama" and then attempting to slip in a little dig that McCain is better because he is not popular.

One viewer of the Olympics mentioned to me that as they used Tivo to scim the ads, they thought they just kept seeming Obama ads, not evening getting to see McCain in his own ad.

Owning a word

In marketing, to capture the attention of your intended audience you must own a word in the minds of those people who you wish to hear and remember your message.

Obama owns the word Change. All the candidates have attempted to take this word away from Obama, either by using it themselves or by dismissing it as unimportant. They have all failed. Obama owns this word outright.

McCain, up until this point has owned the word Old. He hasn't wanted to own the word, but that isn't the way it works. He has continued to reinforce his ownership of this word and the examples are too extensive to mention here.

A new word for McCain

But now the McCain campaign has hit upon a new word combination. Original Maverick. The word Original has a similar meaning to the world old. Afterall, the Coke brand is old but it successfully uses Original or Real as a replacement for old.

McCain, by claiming to be the original, can use his experience and age as an advantage. Maverick can be a good word as well. It speaks of someone who leads with strength of inner conviction and not swayed by peer pressure. There are dangers in this word as well. A maverick is also seen as a contrarian. Somewho who isn't a team player, someone who doesn't work well with others.

Telling a story

In order for The Original Maverick to work for McCain, he has to step up and tell us a story that convinces us that he deserves to own this word. I have heard so many times McCain state that the American public knows him and knows his position. Sorry Mr McCain, but most Americans pay very little attention to most senators and their perceived accomplishments while sitting around with the other 99 senators. Americans don't know you and that is part of the problem.

So tell us a story. Tell us how you are a maverick. We understand the 'original' part, we want to know about the maverick part. Other than the Iraq war, which Americans do know your views, where else have you stepped up, stood out, and been right. Where have you bucked the conventional wisdom, gone out a limb, and then been proven right.

You are a republican, so being opposed to their ideas won't give you street cred as a maverick. We want to know where you were when controversial republican items were being passed and we especially want to know why you failed to prevent them from passing if you are such a maverick and a great leader. There is a great chance for McCain to show how he has failed to influence and sway his fellow legislators.

Too little, too late

I'm still predicting that the republicans took too long to figure this out. And their delay has provided Obama with a lead that isn't showing up in the polls yet. Once the Olympics are over and people turn in earnest to politics, the runway is just to short for the big heavy McCain campaign plane to finally get off the ground.