First, let me explain how we use frames to view the world.
The last time you watched an ad on TV or read an ad in a magazine, did you notice that how you responded to the perceived message was influenced by your past experiences and/or current views?
Probably not. Yet, you carry around with you your assumptions, paradigms and beliefs – collectively your frame of reference – and they shape how you see things.
For example, if I hate mushrooms and Carl’s Jr markets a new guacamole and mushroom burger, I’m not likely to buy.
Marketers try to change your frame so that their message is better received because a positive frame increases the chances of marketing success. Negative frames, as you might expect, can seriously derail your efforts.
The frame acts like a message before the message. But what if marketers were to use this same technique to create the frame around the competition?
Obama vs Romney
Earlier this year, Obama’s campaign set out to tell America who Romney is before Romney could. The frame was simple: Romney is an out of touch millionaire.
And they’ve hit that message hard (see the video above).
In fact, Obama’s campaign didn’t really start to tell America who Obama is until the 2012 Democratic National Convention. With the help of Bill Clinton and others, Obama began to communicate who he is.
The real shame is that Romney did not respond well.
As he came onto the national scene and faced opposition to who he is as a person (and not for his platform), Mitt’s response was basically, “Hey, no I’m not.”
And he’s been playing catch-up ever since.
Apple has used the same technique since the early 80s
This award-winning advertisement set Apple apart by telling viewers who the other guys are and therefore, who Apple is not.
And then Apple ran it’s Get a Mac ad campaign featuring John Hodgman and Jostin Long from 2006 to 2009 framing Microsoft.
Let’s be honest, winning in politics anymore is about having an amazing marketing campaign manager who not only knows how to frame his or her product – the candidate – but more importantly it would seem, knows how to effectively frame the competition.
Great ad agencies and brand managers do the same.