Personal observations.


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I'm thinking the Internet phenomenon in politics is the same as it is in business. It adds a new perspective and layer to politics but doesn't replace the basic principles underlying campaigns. What Howard Dean's campaign did was tap into the viral marketing phenomenon and what has been called disintermediation. What it failed to do was realize it still had to bring the political party and the media under its umbrella.

In a way the campaign is one of those saddest kinds of dot.com failures in which there really was a great business there and a great business model, but early success brought the wrath of the 8000-pound gorillas and it was unable to stand up.

Many great early dot.coms were beaten badly by traditional retailers who began to get a clue and stumbled into online sales late. The arrival was late but it was with overwhelming investments in research and staff. It took Wal-Mart about 5 generations of web sites to even get a footing, but they did finally get a footing. Had they achieved that earlier we might not have Amazon.com in its present form. JC Penney did better. Its first generation web store was so clumsy I quickly gave up shopping it. However, like thousands of others I complained and they listened. They became a leader in online innovations. Catalog sales outlets were among the best making the shift. Few companies innovate online tools as often as Lands End does.

I think we are seeing the Dean campaign beaten back a bit by the traditional campaigns. We are also seeing those traditional campaigns scrambling to figure out how Dean did it. Dean may be under the radar for awhile, but within just a few weeks we will see a Phoenix rising from the ashes to attain amazing new heights. We say with all confidence that this is a movement, not a campaign.
posted by Unknown at 11:43 PM