Purely from a campaign strat point-of-view, this site made an instant, cursory, snippet-review of the Hillary opening salvo 20 minutes after it was released, at http://wp.me/p2mko-6s1
as media content without any political commentary — let’s leave the “commentating” to pundits. (that snippet-review closed with: “Obviously, Team Hillary is targeting the younger demographic set, but this kind of traditional content embedded on social media will not do – it needs to follow this up with a live, interactive format on Twitter/ Instagram YouTube/ FB etc.xxx”
A quick survey thru search engines shows the following reviews at noon and this afternoon of the same vid. (By the way, the morning after, Team Hillary followed up the vid with live tweets of her road trip to Iowa.)
Snippets of the reviews, verbatim:
From vox.com: Quote“(F)ascinating piece of filmmaking xxx The video attempts not to minimize Clinton’s placement in her campaign, but to portray it as a natural outgrowth of a mass, populist movement.” Closed-quote
From CBS News: Quote “Clinton doesn’t appear in her own announcement video until it’s almost over.xxx The video reflects a philosophy laid out in a Clinton campaign mission statement obtained by CBS News. ‘We are humble,’ it reads. ‘We take nothing for granted.’ Xxx In fact, advisers say this campaign is likely to look less like her first White House bid and more like her run for a Senate seat from New York in 2000, when she went on a listening tour of the state and even sometimes spent the night in supporters’ homes.” Closed-quote
From the New York Times: Quote “In the video, she does not appear until after 90 seconds of images featuring personal stories of others, each describing how they are getting ready to start something new.” Closed-quote
From the LA Times: Quote “(T)he focus will be on the American people, not on Clinton; on their needs and concerns and not her reach for history. xxx The shift was abundantly clear in the contrast between her 2007 announcement video and the one she aired Sunday as she jumped into the race — each just over two minutes in length. xxx Last time: Clinton sitting in a sumptuously appointed living room, alone as she faces the camera. xxx This time: She doesn’t even appear in her own video until a minute and a half in, after cameos by more than a dozen people representing a demographic cross section of America. Even then the view is the back of her head. xxx Last time: Thirty-one uses of the word ‘I,’ twice the use of the word ‘we.’ xxx This time: Only five uses of the word ‘I’ as Clinton moves to make her campaign a communal effort, and one that focuses strongly on the economic unease that has persisted during the two terms of the man who defeated her in 2008, President Obama.” Closed-quote.
From the dailycaller.com: Quote “Hillary Clinton’s campaign might want to reconsider its new slogan: ‘It’s Your Time.’ xxx (It is) Similar To Name Of Online Dating Site For Mature Americans …” Closed-quote
posted at 19:43 GMT 21:43 CET April 12 US (April 13, 3:45am Manila time):
The Hillary Campaign Strategy:
Content (see vid embedded above): The tone was: “new beginning”, or that, the candidate was offering a “new beginning” to the American electorate (it peppers the text with “we’re getting started” followed by people from the entire range of the spectrum in age, race, economic status, body type, etc, preparing to build their house, going to work, planning for spring, readying for school), while the theme was economic and financial security for the ordinary American family.
No, she did not play the gender card explicitly (only about 10 per cent of the images were on gender issues while the text does not at all use the G words). No, she did not play the grandmother card as predicted by pundits, or the Clinton card — no member of her family made any appearance, not even baby Charlotte. No, she did not use the accomplishment card or the foreign policy card — apparently, team Hillary did not want bruising this early. Neither will the group rehash the 2008 campaign. By focusing on economic and financial security, team Hillary stresses what empirically a majority of Americans are worried about, while at the same time subtly hinting it will do better than the Obama administration in this area (building on the Democrat base while at the same time not having to be saddled by any perceived failed promises of the incumbent).
HOWEVER, being perceived as the strongest contender, all the presidential hopefuls will go for her jugular, and her jugular is exposed – perceived “errors” and failings as traditional politician and bureaucrat not adequately addressed Hopefully, however, the millennials are more liberal-minded and see her bid as a fresh start, while middle America hopefully buys into the apple pie campaign.
The Medium: Formally launched as a tweet linking to a YouTube video and embedded in her dotcom site, the Hillary announcement was touted as a social media campaign opening that appeals to the younger generation.
Prior to the tweet however, there was a well-orchestrated international live television and online countdown and set of teasers, crawlers, graphics, and soundbytes for a full 24 hours before the actual celebrated tweet – till finally the tweet opened to a world premiere. This was no ordinary tweet. It was as conventional and traditional as you could get in terms of content — well paced at 4 seconds per frame of happy faces in a canned video — and a global campaign buildup, marshaling all the available resources in the traditional media.
Obviously, Team Hillary is targeting the younger demographic set, but this kind of traditional content embedded on social media should be improved upon – it needs to followed up with a live, interactive format on Twitter/ Instagram YouTube/ FB etc.
Of course, you will have your share of trolls, haters, and bashers, false and true trending, false and real viralling — welcome the bright and the dubious, the easy and the randy.
