Branding Obama: How a Logo Helped a Presidential Campaign

The power of brand in an election is well illustrated with the Obama Brand during the 2008 elections. This was a well articulated brand campaign that has been heralded to have been one of the things that helped Barrack Obama occupy the White House. The choice of the colors, the fonts, and the overall design displays nothing but all the attributes expected from a quality and professional logo design. Though there were other presidential aspirants with equally strong brands during the campaigns, Obama Brand managed to floor all of them and was the most recognizable logo out of all of them.

Whereas Steve Jobs brought a great passion for design which ended up changing the world of computers forever, team Obama brought intelligent political marketing which defined the entire campaigns and ultimately contributed to the win at the ballot. The design brought by the Obama Brand was not just meant for bumper stickers which could then be thrown away once the campaigns were over. It was about identity. It started a movement which ended up creating a brand that can only be compared to the President himself.

Distinctive design to inspire hope

The Obama logo featured a blue “O” rising over a field of white and red stripes, resembling the American sunrise was like Obama’s own Nikes Swoosh. Without using any single word, it became the face of the modern day politics. It helped the humble senator from Illinois to have seamless brand identity envied by thousands of global businesses.

But one may wonder how a seemingly simple logo managed to help a man win a presidential election in the United States! We take a look at some of the greater design components that the logo had and try to dissect them from a designer’s point of view and see just how it was possible for a logo to help someone become the president of the most powerful nation on earth.

The Logo Uses Gotham Font

The Gotham font is a modern, clean and bold font. It is believed that this font was the cornerstone of the aspirant’s visual identity. Election campaigns are fond of using a wide variety of typefaces, which in most cases are never given any due consideration and are always at the mercies of the printer. But this was not the case, since the Obama Campaign team desired uniformity and discipline in all the branding materials. The Gotham worked wonders because it looks nice and it was uniformly applied across the campaign branding. It, later on, became known as the Obama font.

Intelligent Choice of Colors

Looking at the Obama Campaign Logo, you will notice the intelligent use of colors. Colors were not just picked off the street and used to patch up the logo, but there was a deep thought process that went into choosing the colors. The logo had only three colors – blue, red and white, very basic colors but loaded with lots of meaning. These are the same colors that done the American flag, with white and red being the predominant ones.

With the popularity of the American flag, it was easy for supporters to immediately connect deeply and emotionally with the logo. This fostered love, admiration, and passion and also made him earn thousands of supporters who carried him straight to the house on the hill. From the perspective of a minimalist designer, using few colors in logo design is essential for effective brand identity, and this is exactly what the branding team for President Obama adopted and it worked like a charm.

Hidden Meanings

The Obama logo had a conspicuous “O” resembling the American sun rising beyond the white and red stripes. This had lots of meaning for the American people back then. The rising of the sun signifies a new dawn. It brings hope for a new beginning. It is an indication that a new era has come, and you can start all over again for a better begin.

This is the message Obama used during the campaigns, painting himself as the hope and the change the American people can believe in, and he also gave them the affirmation that it was possible with his famous declaration of “Yes We Can”. This made him get a lot of swing votes which he would have otherwise not received.

Versatility

An effective logo should be versatile, and this was clearly evident in the Obama logo. Whenever you looked at it, it appeared the same. It was well presented on materials like flyers, tees, posters, banners, etc. It looked great as well in both laptop and mobile devices. This helped in enhancing the consistency of the logo, making the Obama Brand even more effective than the rest of the competitors.

The Obama logo has not just been a major point of reference for other politicians keen on building strong election brands, but also, a lot of corporate organizations and business have borrowed a few concepts from it in driving their brands. It changed the whole concept of election branding in the United States.

How often should you revamp your logo? Find out here!