Response to Lindsey's Post

How else do you think technology has changed the way products or services can be marketed? Do you find internet advertising more successful or less successful?

I think that technology has changed a lot about how products or services can be marketed.  Technology has opened doors for business to track potential customer's internet habits, adapting their advertisements to more accurately target groups.  I think this is both a good and bad thing because it begins to raise questions about privacy and how much information about you that really want these companies to have access to.  I think internet advertising is more effective because companies can accurately target the specific groups of people likely to react to their advertisements in a positive way.  Google knows I shopped for boots on the internet, so now I get constant boot advertisements which may lead me to buy a new pair of boots even though my last pair is fine.  Internet advertising leads to more buying and selling opportunities. 

Response to Corporate Branding Article

I found this article to be fascinating. The author is right about political branding.  I think that this is a brilliant idea for presidents, however, not as good of an idea for America.  When a politician creates a brand of his/herself, that becomes an idea that can stick to the public's mind.  This image may very well be sustained despite actions which counteract that particular brand image.  I also think that when people can easily attach on to a particular image, or brand, they are much less likely to actually do the research to discover what is really going on.  It's very easy to find on the internet about things Obama has done that are the complete opposite of what he said he would do.  There are many appalling events that have happened in his presidency, and I very rarely hear the average person discussing these events.  Most people I know believe that the president is doing and acting in the way he promised, or they don't care at all.  I find the author has an interesting point when she says that young people who rallied for him during the elections will become jaded and less likely to vote again.  I believe that a lot of these young people aren't involved enough to know exactly what is going on, and many of those who do know will give up on politics for at least the time being.

Question:  How do you feel about the relationship between President Obama's actions and the brand image he portrays?