Brand Authenticity, Barack Obama and Signal to Noise Ratio.

In a recent post Seth Godin and others talk about the signal to noise ratio faced by marketers today. Experienced marketers understand that authenticity is your brand signal and any attempt to distort or mask authenticity generates noise.

Barack Obama's campaign is a good example of what happens when noise masks the signal.

Barack has an exceptionally strong signal, he is an authentic American Liberal. Add to that the fact that Barack is charismatic and inexperienced and you have captured the authenticity of Barack Obama.

Now if you happen to prefer a candidate who is conservative, experienced and stoic - Obama supporters label you as a racist or cynical. Thereby introducing noise into the system - noise that drives away, or worse yet antagonizes rational folks who might listen to the authentic Barack.

If only somebody would turn down the noise...