All this fuss over a concession speech. Addressing supporters after the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary won by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama oozed the sort of charisma Mitt Romney would have killed for in his campaign. It so galvanized Will.i.am of the hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas that he created the “Yes We Can” Internet video around it.
The 4-minute, 30-second clip — released on Super Bowl weekend — became an instant viral hit and has brought more than 10 million views to its host Web site and nearly 4 million to its various YouTube pages. Traffic to Obama’s Web site increased so much last week that it was temporarily overwhelmed.
The black-and-white video collects celebrities such as John Legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Scarlett Johansson and Herbie Hancock to speak along to a video of Obama while an acoustic melody plays in the background.
Simple, but effective.
“The video recognizes one of the core attributes of a great YouTube video, which is the mashup,” said Steve Grove, head of news and politics at YouTube. “They’ve taken existing footage and re-edited it to have a different meaning. … This mastered that medium.”
Obama supporters may have done it best, but they are far from the first. Other candidates and their supporters have been using YouTube to raise awareness since the start of the presidential campaign. Seven of the 16 major candidates announced their bids on YouTube, and all host their videos at YouTube.com/youchoose.
“It provides candidates with a lot of opportunities, particularly with campaign-finance laws as they are,” said Rob Fairbank, a former Colorado state representative working for Sen.
John McCain’s campaign. “You can use the Internet for all sorts of free advertising and to communicate with your supporters.”
YouTube’s Grove said that when politicians make themselves accessible online, it empowers supporters to do the same.
“The ‘Yes…