Marie Berbick-Graham, Contributor

Just how did Barack Obama - a relatively inexperienced African-American senator - pull off the historic feat of winning the United States presidential election? While the pundits may say the political tide was on Obama's side, we cannot overlook one very critical factor that played a substantial role in getting Barack Obama into the White house - the skilful creation and management of Brand Barack!

Top industry publications, including Advertising Age, have taken note of the marketing lessons to be learnt from Obama's campaign. In fact, Barack Obama has been named Advertising Age's Marketer of the Year for 2008! He received the honour above big names like Apple and Nike! There is no doubt that Obama had three of the world's best political consultants directing his campaign, so let's take a look at the public relations and marketing strategies that these geniuses - campaign manager David Plouffe, chief strategist David Axelrod, and communications director Robert Gibbs - used to create history on November 4.

1. Strategic networking: Put yourself in a position to meet the right people. When Barack Obama, the young Illinois senator, took up playing golf and participating in poker nights with some of Chicago's most influential people, it wasn't because he wanted to get away from his wife Michelle and his two girls. He did it because this was his way of meeting and learning from the movers and shakers who could help him better understand the political game and realise his political ambitions.

2. Be seen and heard: Lift your profile. Even before his famous speech, 'The Audacity of Hope', at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, there was a buzz in political circles about Barack Obama. So what did Obama do? He made his strengths as an engaging speaker work for him, making numerous speeches to various audiences, ranging from community groups to carefully selected social clubs and influential professional groups.

3. Powerful speeches: Good speakers know the power of words and how to use them to great effect. They anticipate the response of their audience to certain words or quotes. So when at the 2004 Democratic National Convention Barack Obama, a virtual unknown in US politics, roared into the public consciousness with the now famous quote, "There's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America," he was quite cognisant of the emotive reaction that those words would elicit. When Obama mentions something that is very relevant to the people whom he is addressing, or grabs the headlines with a memorable sound bite, it's not by accident.

4. Create a winning profile: How on earth could a bright, ambitious but relatively inexperienced African-American senator expect to win the White House? How would Barack Obama's handlers package him to appeal to an electorate that probably wasn't ready for an African-American president? In 2000, only 37 per cent of Americans felt they were ready for a black president, but that figure jumped to 59 per cent in 2007, according to a Newsweek poll. The 2007 survey no doubt gave Obama hope that he had a realistic shot at the presidency, but top campaign operatives also knew that there were a lot of dynamics at play in packaging Obama. Even though he was classified as African American, Barack Obama was unlike any other political candidate in US history. Obama's biracial roots (white mother, black father), middle-class up bringing, Ivy League education, background in community work and his record of defying the odds to achieve the unthinkable (he was the first black president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review), resonated with people across racial divides. From this, they created a profile of a positive, inspirational and cross-cultural candidate that people of all races and creed could relate to.

5. Surround yourself with the best people: Analysts continue to marvel at the sheer brilliance of the Obama presidential campaign, heralding the level of grass-roots mobilisation involved, his record- breaking fund-raising, effective and consistent message, successful communication strategies, effective management of media relations, and the list goes on. How did he do it? Obama surrounded himself with the best people, a fact acknowledged by Valerie Jarrett, his close friend and co-chair of his Transition Team.

Obama sought to have bright, creative and experienced people who were not afraid to challenge the status quo and prove the pundits wrong. The three key figures in the top echelons of the campaign have all worked for him since 2004. Campaign Manager David Plouffe is a long-time Democratic Party campaign consultant. He is also a partner in the consulting firm AKP&D Message and Media, founded by David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist and media adviser.

Plouffe has been hailed by Axelrod as having done "the most magnificent job of managing a campaign that I've seen in my life of watching presidential politics". Communications Director Robert Gibbs, who is now tipped to become Obama' s White House press secretary, ran a tight and disciplined ship when it came to managing the campaign's media relations and internal communications. Whereas there were leaks within the McCain camp, notice that the Obama campaign was able to avoid campaign leaks and public squabbles!

6. Strong and consistent message: If there's one person on the planet who does not know about 'Change We Can Believe In' or never heard the phrase 'Yes, We Can!' they either live under a rock or is sadly still evolving like The Caveman.

The key to the success of Barack Obama's campaign was the strength and consistency of the candidate's message - Change. Throughout the primaries when his rival Senator Hillary Clinton pounded away at Obama's "inexperience" for the top job, Obama stayed on message.

When the McCain campaign launched a similar attack throughout the race for the White House, Obama stayed on message, while the pundits criticised McCain for failing to stick to one solid message throughout his campaign. Despite numerous attacks from McCain - Bill Ayers, Socialist, Reverend Wright - the Obama campaign stayed on message, hammered it home and it paid off - big time.

7. Turn negatives into positives: Positive spin. Two of the biggest challenges that seemed poised to go against Obama's bid for the presidency were his race and his relatively limited political experience. But the Obama campaign was able to turn these negatives into positives.

Throughout the campaign, Obama as much as possible avoided discussing race at his rallies. He purposefully avoided conveying any notion that race would seriously impair his chances of getting to the White House.

Instead, he took the psychological approach of asserting his belief in the voter, daring voters to show the doubters that they are wrong - that Americans have come a long way and have moved beyond race as a deciding factor for their choice of president. "I think that racial attitudes have changed sufficiently in this country that people are willing to vote for as president," Obama told journalist Gwen Ifill in a 2007 interview for Essence magazine. If the exit polls are to be believed, he was right. The inexperience factor also worked well with Obama's message of Change. Essentially, he was able to convince the voter that being inexperienced was a positive as, unlike his rivals, he was not associated with the old style of politics in Washington.

8. Make the technology work for you: The fact that the Internet played such an integral role in Obama's campaign was no accident. Obama wanted the youth vote and was smart enough to know he would have to win them over through the medium most likely to engage them.

The campaign utilised various new media that were guaranteed to reach young voters and the tech-savvy - such as mobile phones and the Internet. Text messaging was therefore a home-run strategy for the campaign, and the official campaign website http://www.barackobama.com was designed to engage the voter from all angles. Wherever the young voters were, Obama was there across various media formats. Facebook, MySpace, Youtube, you name it. This led to the creation of more than 35,000 local organising groups across 50 states! David Axelrod initially announced the Obama campaign by creating a five-minute Internet video! Perhaps one of the smartest moves the Obama campaign made was to create their own online community on the website at mybarackobama.com. This enabled members to share their thoughts, ideas and experiences throughout the campaign. Supporters who came to the Obama rallies were asked to give the names of five relatives or friends to whom the campaign could send an invitation to join their online community.

9. Project your wish image: What kind of temperament or mannerism should a president have? More so the president of the most powerful country in the world? If you've been following Obama's campaign you would certainly have noticed that the pundits and analysts showered praise upon Obama for his calm demeanour and 'presidential posture', in the aftermath of the economic meltdown.

When McCain had a knee jerk reaction to the economic crisis by announcing he would 'suspend' his campaign to head to Washington, Obama remained calm, and appeared steadier in his approach to the situation. During the debates when John McCain allowed himself to become flustered, appeared impatient and angry and referred to Obama as "That one", Obama kept his cool. On election night when Obama appeared on stage to deliver his acceptance speech, no doubt he was happy about his historic victory, but his body language was very measured and very statesmanlike. "Majestic," is how Reverend Jesse Jackson described it. It's not just what others say about you that contributes to your image - it's also about what you do. The fact that he works out at the gym and eats healthy also help Obama's image. When was the last time you saw a president jogging, working out at the gym or playing basketball?

For relaxation, Obama played a game of basketball before each of the primary elections and on the day of the US presidential elections! The political commentators loved it! Now, if that's not a 'killer' image, I don't know what is!

10. Recognise and engage your supporters: "I'm asking you to believe, not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington. I'm asking you to believe in yours." This statement is prominent on the Obama campaign website and it's there for a reason. Obama's Chief Strategist David Axelrod is credited with implementing a strategy that encouraged the participation of people.

Throughout his campaign Obama never stayed far from his supporters and sought every opportunity to engage and recognise them. Obama seldom mentioned "I" in his campaign speeches. It was always "we" and "you". He had his own blog on the campaign website and he used it to engage his massive network of staff and volunteers.

His personal thank-you call to the 106-year-old lady who voted for him was a nice touch, and on election night, before he made his acceptance speech, Obama took the time to first thank the people who made his victory possible.

He wrote on his blog: "I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history.

"And I don't want you to forget how we did it. You made history every single day during this campaign - every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbours about why you believe it's time for change. I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

"We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next. But I want to be very clear about one thing ... All of this happened because of you. Thank you."

It was simply signed - Barack. Note how many times he used the words "you" and "we". Obama was making it clear that he valued their support and that they should take the credit for his victory.

Marie Berbick-Graham is a communications specialist and publisher of masscommagazine.com, a news and resource website for communicators. Email mbgraham@bgacommunications.com.