Michael Cornfield

Articles by Michael All articles by Michael

• How And What Is Ben Carson Marketing? in Marketing: Politics on 11/17/2015
  

  Ed Brookover keynoted the opening session at the annual conference of the International Association of Political Consultants on Nov. 12. He has been the senior strategist to Dr. Benjamin Carson's presidential campaign since March. Brookover is a campaign doyen, chairman of the political practice for the D.C. strategic communications firm Greener and Hook, with stints in executive posts at all three GOP national committees. Not a bad get for a first-time candidate running as an anti-politician.

• Two Nations, Divisible, With Enmity And Distrust For All in Marketing: Politics on 09/17/2015
  

  As depicted on data graphs, political polarization looks like a barbell. People-dots cluster into two groups at the far ends of a plotted line that represents a range of opinions about something. Often, the "something" consists of opinions on an issue of the day.

• How Do You Solve A Problem Like The Donald? in Marketing: Politics on 08/18/2015
  

  Donald J. Trump has skyrocketed to dominance of the presidential campaign conversation and a big lead in the Republican polls. This past Sunday, he began phase two of his campaign with the release of his first policy paper. You want specifics along with the insults and braggadocio? You got 'em.

• Slicing The Marketing/Canvassing Pie in Marketing: Politics on 07/21/2015
  

  Campaign managers often make a samurai cut in the allocation of funds between marketing and canvassing channels. Both types of outreach are essential. They can be more or less reinforcing, too. That depends on how well the manager harmonizes personnel (including the candidate), grounds implementation decisions on analytics, and navigates the inevitable surprises thrown up by the news and competitive environment.

• How Innovation Happens in Marketing: Politics on 06/16/2015
  

  I concluded last month's column by promising to provide a fresh angle on the branding of the presidential candidates. I will keep that promise, but since they are still pouring into the ring -Jeb Bush, who entered yesterday, is number 15- I will wait another month or two.

• In Search of A Ministerial President in Marketing: Politics on 05/19/2015
  

  How's this for a political marketing challenge: our latest poll asked a representative sample of registered voters whether they would consider voting for 11 declared and potential presidential candidates. In each case, there were more "would not consider"s than "would"s. Within the poll's statistical margin of error, 50% or more voters rejected the entire field.

• For Your Eyes Only: Marketing In The 2015 UK Elections in Marketing: Politics on 04/21/2015
  

  The May 7 elections in the United Kingdom will be so close that political marketing and digital campaigning could well make a difference. Consultants and strategists will make legitimate albeit inflated claims of credit regardless. The campaign year has already been compared with 2008 and 2012 in the U.S. as likely landmarks in technological advance. But it's a steeper climb.

• Leveraging Facebook (For The Time Being) in Marketing: Politics on 03/17/2015
  

  Attention, campaign managers and principals. Permit me to clue you into something your digital people already know well but that you may be discounting when they say it because it sounds self-serving: Facebook will require more of your campaign resources to use well in 2016 than it did in 2012, 2014, or even this month. The social media colossus is increasingly important and increasingly complex.

• Message Discipline And Social Media in Marketing: Politics on 02/17/2015
  

  In the last few weeks, Hillary Rodham Clinton chided (okay, trolled) Rand Paul and Chris Christie for hedging on the value of vaccinations while testing a #grandmothersknowbest persona. Jeb Bush's chief technology officer resigned after failing to delete some crude tweets before they circulated. The owner of the New York Knicks, James Dolan, flamed back at a fan in an email exchange. And a cautionary tale in the New York Times Magazine traced the woes of non-famous people not engaged in zero-sum persona battles who nevertheless lost their jobs and emotional balance because of ill-thought tweets.

• Voter Contact To The Max: 'The Right Stuff' Or 'Toy Story'? in Marketing: Politics on 01/20/2015
  

  On the Internet, the proximate incentives of voter contact work in favor of never giving up on a prospect. Marginal costs for additional messages are minuscule. Lack of response, a possible signal of voter rejection, can be readily and optimistically misinterpreted as inattentiveness - because we do indeed forget emails and overlook ads.

About Edit

You haven't told us anything about yourself! Surely you've got something to say. Tell us a little something.