When it came to Avis, they made a wise choice by admitting that they weren’t the best. But they turned this negative into a positive. They want to be number one so they responded by saying “We try harder.”

Today, it seems the Republican presidential nominee is taking a page from the Avis case study. The Democratic nominee’s activities have garnered a ton of attention from the media for quite some time as if his visits overseas were going to establish any new policies or relationships. To counter this, McCain’s latest commercial, called Celeb Ad, compares Obama’s popularity to shallow celebrities like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. It’s a smart tactic that reminds voters that holding the highest office in the land shouldn’t be about liability, it should be about experience and how one stands on the issues.

This ad is so clever, it has the Obama camp questioning if they may have peaked too soon. Only time will tell. But in a race that often is won by the most popular candidate, McCain is firing a shot over the Barack bow letting his opponent know that he will not go quietly. This new ad does a good job at trying to shine a spotlight on the guy that seems to have a hard time engaging the media.

Karl Gromelski is a copywriter at sgdp who has not yet made a choice on which presidental candidate to vote for. His vote is currently for sale.

Technorati Tags: Avis, McCain, Celeb Ad, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears

Article Tags: "We try harder." | Avis | Celeb Ad | John McCain | Obama
Filed under: Advertising, Campaign Critiques, Political Marketing