Best branding advice from shapers of Obama brand

There was an article in the April issue of Fast Company about one of the key players -- Chris Hughes -- in Obama's campaign for the presidency. Not only did Hughes help Obama, he was also closely involved in the startup of Facebook. It's a long but interesting read (note to Fast Company -- shorten your articles). There is a great quote in there that should apply to any company and brand:

"Instead of reciting a list of why we wanted people to vote for Barack, like we did for Kerry," she says, "we were told to ask what was important to people and listen to them." They fed back what they learned via MyBO and used that knowledge to create local service projects that continue to this day.

Too many companies provide lists of reasons why prospects should buy. Worse, they provide chest-beating reasons -- "the leading," "established since 1985," "pace-setting," etc. They should follow the lead of the Obama campaign, and listen to what's important to prospects and customers. Then they should then create products and services that meet those requirements for value over time.