Obama for America

"Choices"
60 sec. ad run in IA  starting June 25, 2007.
 
 

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 [Music] Obama:  I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message. 

Obama (from the 2004 Democratic National Convention):  [applause] It is that fundamental belief: I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper, that makes this country work.

Male Narrator:  After college, Barack Obama signed on as a community organizer for local churches, working to lift an area torn apart by plant closings.

Jerry Kellman (Calumet Community Religious Conference 1980-85):  Those mills began to close.  People lost their jobs for starters, but the neighborhoods were devastated.

David Kindler (Former community organizer):  The fact that Barack chose to try and effect social change, you know how do you understand that motivation?  The pay stinks, the hours are bad. 

Male Narrator:  Three years later, Barack went to Harvard Law, but returned to the community to lead a voter registration drive and defend civil rights.

Laurence Tribe (Harvard University Law School):  It was inspiring, absolutely inspiring to see someone as brilliant as Barack Obama, as successful, someone who could’ve written his ticket on Wall Street, take all of the talent and all of the learning and decide to devote it to the community and to making people’s lives better. 

  

 
Notes:  The campaign opened with two ads "Choices" and "Carry," each 60-seconds long.  "Choices" opens with the disclaimer.  Not only is this done in a creative way with the book visual, but it gets it out of the way so the ad leaves the viewer/listener with an upbeat message at the close ("...making people's lives better.").  The ad then goes to a clip from his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, which was many Americans' introduction to Obama.  The focus of the ad is on Obama's work as a community organizer as related by three testimonials. 

According to the press release:

"Modest Paid Media Campaign is Part of Larger Outreach Plan

"This low-level television advertising campaign is just the latest supplement to the aggressive grassroots outreach program that's already underway in Iowa.  Three weeks ago, thousands of Iowa households received a booklet and DVD detailing the life, experience and record of Barack Obama.  One week later, 1,500 volunteers knocked on more than 30,000 doors in 84 Iowa cities and town to talk to people in their community about Obama's record and his plan to lower health care costs by up to $2,500 annually for the typical family.  The television ads are also part of an integrated plan that includes radio spots and Internet advertising all highlighting Obama's experience bringing people together to solve important problems."

According to the press release, Tom Balanoff (President SEIU Local I) made one of the testimonials, but the version on the web instead has a testimonial from Jerry Kellman (Calument Community Religious Conference 1980-85).

One other tiny point to note is the absence of the campaign logo.