Today I’m in Austin, Texas, a town that for years bore the stamp of its native (nearby Johnson City) son, Lyndon Baines Johnson, our 36th President, whose library is housed at the University of Texas near my hotel. Besides the Civil Rights Act, the Great Society and escalation of the Viet Nam War, LBJ will probably always be known for the famous “Daisy” attack ad in his campaign against Barry Goldwater in 1964. Amazingly, the ad only aired once, but its power to paint Goldwater as a warmonger contributed to LBJ’s landslide victory.
Had LBJ been around today Doyle Dane Bernbach would have had the viral capabilities of visual social media to support its strategy. Snack-able, sharable and visceral, well-crafted and chosen pictures and video cut through the noise to reach directly to the consumer.
A 2012 study by ROI Research found that when users engage with friends on social media sites, they enjoy their pictures the most. Photos on Facebook generate 53 percent more likes than the average post, according to a HubSpot survey.
