Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Lazy marketers rely on cutting and pasting messages for “key demographics” - which despite all the fancy wrappings (and expensive research packaging) often comes down to the same hoary old stereotypes. Of course, there is also some truth in those stereotypes; otherwise, they wouldn’t survive (Example: some women - not me - love the color pink and simply LOVE to buy over-priced shoes - also not me…or any of my friends.)

And so I come to the fascinating world of political marketing and Senator McCain’s surprising VP pick. (I tried to resist, really - but there’s simply too much good marketing meat.) Personally, I don’t know whether to be more insulted or amused. As a marketer, I’m loving watching the hubbub and conflicting views of the “analysts.”

Here’s my take on it all (Full disclosure: I’m an Obama supporter, but I’m also a woman, a professional marketer and at one time would have likely voted for McCain.):

“We’re marketing to women!” or “The ‘V’ Factor.” McCain (by his own campaign’s admission) needs the woman vote to win - more specifically the Hillary woman vote. So, apparently the thinking goes - we’ve all got the basic anatomy, why should we care about what any of the candidates say about the government’s role in what we do with that anatomy? We’ll just blindly go vote for our fellow “V.” Never mind that Ms. Palin seems almost the complete opposite of Hillary. (McCain has been rassllin’ with this one from the start of his campaign: Will a Rich Young Latina Facebooker Who Buys Wal-Mart Diapers Buy McCain?)

“Core Values” Okay, say we’re Moms and we’re (mostly) social conservatives. Are we supposed to - en masse - abandon our other beliefs and concerns - on things like Iraq and the economy - and vote for the McCain/Palin ticket - because she shares at least some of our values and has crashed through the glass ceiling?

Is the advancement of a fellow Mom to a power position supposed to automatically trump everything else?

Power? Not so fast. Haven’t we all known women with big titles…and no real clout?

Palin will, after all, be only in the number two slot if they win - which typically means going to a lot of funerals and sitting around, wondering what’s happening in the Oval Office and waiting for POTUS to be incapacitated. (VP Cheney is the exception to this “tradition,” of course.) As one VP once famously noted the job is worth about as much as a pitcher of warm spit (except he didn’t say spit.) Even Palin recently said she didn’t even know what a VP did (join the club, Governor, most Americans wonder the same thing.)

And what ABOUT that “Experience” Issue? So, we’re supposed to have different rules for the girls than the boys? We can’t lift as much, run as far or think as hard…so we don’t need to meet the same requirements for the job? I give Ms. Palin credit for apparently being a real scrapper and unafraid to try new things…but her being Governor of a state with about the population of Albuquerque, for less than two years, is underwhelming. Executive experience? Just what does the mayor of a small Alaskan town (6,000 pop.) do? Next door to Russia? Well, I live next door to Mexico, does that qualify me to set immigration policy? If called upon to step up to the presidency, can she, in fact, “do the job from Day One?”

What about some of the GOP women who have years of relevant experience (and some name recognition) - like Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Elizabeth Dole…or Carly Fiorina? Sure, Ms. Fiorina got fired from HP (by a woman board president) but she’s certainly got some big-name, big-brain, full-bore experience.

So, this appears to be a “Plan P” (for Panic) marketing move - going after The Vs, with no thought given to the complexities of the female psyche (yes, many of us actually think with the big brain) or the real-world requirements for such a position.

..or did Senator McCain simply decide to have some fun?

P.S. Note I didn’t mention Ms. Palin’s looks, daughter, baby, personal reproductive choices, or her husband’s old, old DUI charge. Those shouldn’t be relevant.

Related Posts:
Marketing Messages: “They” or “We?”
McCain’s Brand Disconnect

Tags: political marketing, John McCain, marketing troubleshooting, target marketing, Sarah Palin