Every presidential campaign creates an identity for itself through the use of colors, fonts and various other branding elements (Hillary Clinton had a waving flag with three stars, Mitt Romney used an eagle, John Edwards used a blue shooting star with a green tail, and both Clinton and Rudy Giuliani attempted to create a brand identity for themselves with their first names only), but Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s campaign took the idea one step further. Dennis Kucinich used images of the globe and a peace sign to spell 2008, but it’s Barack Obama who won the branding contest with his evocative logo design—an image of a rising sun against a blue sky and landscape made of three red stripes. It evokes the “O” of Obama, the hope his campaign espouses and the ultimate symbol of patriotism, the American flag. The campaign’s efforts to brand the candidate hasn’t always worked: They were criticized for being overzealous and presumptuous when they unveiled an Obama-fied presidential seal at rallies earlier in the year, but for the most part, the campaign scores big for effort. And for the first time in years, a presidential candidate purchased time on almost every major network and cable news channel. He aired a 30-minute infomercial last night promoting his candidacy, which begs the question: Why pick one market when you can afford to target them all?

Tags: logos