Obama needs a geek squad to make good on his brand promise
Geez, now what? As if the economy, world affairs, and health care reform weren’t enough, it seems President Obama has one more dilemma on his plate to deal with. According to recent reports, the technological infrastructure in the White House is not nearly as sophisticated as the digital tools the man and his campaigners used during the campaign, a factor that helped win the election. While this might seem like a minor issue, it’s actually a major issue. You see, Obama’s brand promise was all about change, especially when it came to making governmental workings as transparent, connected and inclusive as possible. Without a top-notch digital infrastructure, he can’t execute on this part of the brand promise, or not exactly in the way he promised. In this day and age, in a world where trust in brands, trust in all institutions, is at an all-time low, it’s critical to make sure that you’ve got what it takes to execute on a brand promise, especially something as important as a promise to keep the lines between brand and consumer open. While Obama’s promise of change was genuine, if he can’t get the geek squad out to the White House as soon as possible, it won’t matter how genuine it was. These days, if you don’t have what it takes to execute on your brand promise, your brand will seem just plain disingenuous.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Allen, looks like Mr President reads your blog! He invited the Founder of Twitter to the White House last week for consultation. This is what Evan Williams tweeted:
“Going to the White House tomorrow for a meeting about the economy (which must mean they’re *really* out of ideas). What should I tell them?”
Hope it churned out some results, both for wiring up the White House, and helping Twitter come up with a business model!