campaign girl challenge - is there a clear winner?

Obama girl vs. Giuliani girl - who wins?

You tube and “web 2.0″ has changed the landscape of political advertising. A lot of the work, especially online, is already done for the big boys (free). I remember just a year ago there were many ethics discussions and debates about bloggers-for-hire.

A few months ago John Edwards campaign bloggers caused quite a stir, which gave rise to some blogger funnies!

Flawless Victory - Technology Wins

Ok, that was a highly geeky sub-heading, but technology will continue to revolutionize the sport of politics. In many parts of the country, technology is an integral part of our daily lives. As society and technology become further integrated, this “you tube” effect is going to become even more pronounced.

I predict at some point a political campaign will be turned on its head through efforts of viral political marketing and crafty passionate tech nerds! The Ron Paul brigade has given us a nice sample of what we should expect moving forward, in fact, they may be setting the standard for years to come. That is, if they can fend off the Ron Paul supporter haters!

The idea of a net-nerd revolution isn’t too far-fetched of an idea and I think it’ll happen sooner than most, think! Now that bloggers and media are starting to see some line-blurring and cross-over stories (going both ways), it will only be a matter of time before we regularly see blogger articles embedded in our daily newspapers or blogger analysis and commentary being shared on television.

One thing is certain, bloggers have given the media a lot of material to work with. Blogger ideas will spill over onto media-blogger sites, media-blogger sites will spill over onto local television and non-prime time television. The information will be handpicked and some media journalists will be recognized for ideas and arguments they downright stole off of their favorite blogger website. This is how the Internet revolution will begin and before you know it, “the people” will have more power than they’ve ever had… it’s already in play, just wait and see it all unfold.  I believe what we’ve seen with Ron Paul is just the beginning of a new era of politics and marketing; as America becomes more ‘connected’, the individual will gain more power.  Whether that is a good or bad thing, remains to be seen.

What is the single greatest Internet marketing campaign to cross-over to the main stream media? I have a few guesses on politics, but I’m not sure I know the answer.

Fred Soto is an Attorney and Entrepreneur from the Silicon Valley.
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