Sen. Barack Obama appears to be running a far more tech-wise campaign than his opponent. But Sen. John McCain is in some ways outsmarting Sen. Obama when it comes to Internet marketing.

George Assimakopoulos
Principal Manager

On Wednesday, Aug. 20th Sen. Barack Obama selected Gov. Joe Biden as his running mate for ther presidential campaign.  Moments after this announcement was made, a Google search for "Joe Biden" or even just "Biden" resulted in a prominently displayed ad labeled "Joe Biden on Obama" that links to Sen. McCain’s site. There, a video begins playing that shows Sen. Biden criticizing Sen. Obama during the Democratic primaries. Just recently, Obama’s camp made the necessary steps to counter McCain’s paid search marketing strategy.

The Wall Street Journal recently examined this marketing strategy, and stated that Sen. McCain’s team has been aggressively buying search ads tied to key terms such as "U.S. economy" and "housing crisis," which take visitors to Web sites outlining Sen. McCain’s plan on those issues.  Meanwhile, the Obama camp has yet to advertise around these terms, missing a key opportunity, according to experts, to communicate his message to undecided voters.

This clever ambush of political names and keyword terms is a clear "conquesting" strategy that advertisers often employ: buying a competitor’s term so that an ad for the buyer’s own product appears when a consumer searches for the other brand.  To read the full article published by WSJ.com on the online marketing battles between both candidates – CLICK HERE.