Podcast: Political Video (runs: 23:48)

I recently interviewed Michael Kolowich of Diginovations for my April 18 column Presidential candidates see political video differently for Mass High Tech. Kolowich was the architect and producer of Mitt TV, the Internet TV Channel of former Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Here is a podcast in which we discuss political video and advice for the Presidential candidates:

Direct Appeals

Have you noticed this video of Barack Obama asking his website visitors to sign up and join his Presidential campaign? Watching the clip makes me wonder whether our next President will be the first to use the Internet to directly addess the country and the world. There is, afterall, a traditional radio address. Why shouldn't we come to expect the President's Internet address?

Knowing what we know about the emotional power of video and its ability to drive response, an inspirational President who can speak from the heart and not just a script should be able to use Internet video effectively.

The same holds true for corporate leaders. In politics or in business if you feel passionately about what you do, that passion will show through your video and be persuasive.

Obama has the right idea but his video appeal is missing an important feature - the action button. When people use the embed code to embed the video in their own websites, as I did above, visitors to those sites do not have a means to respond to Obama's call to action. The sign-up buttons and forms reside on the campaign website but not in the video player itself- a limitation that could be costing him registrations.

To resolve this problem, the Obama campaign could add a prominent "Join Now" button to the player. This button could open a registration form right on top of the video. The clip could also end with the sign-up screen. These features would permit registration from any place where the video is deposited, at any time the video is viewed.