Two of the region's significant ballot issues coming up next month - Oregon's Measure 50 and Washington's R-67 - ought to be watched closely by marketing professionals. The point: Can sheer weight of money, Niagras of dollars, do the job of winning the public over to the side of two of the least-liked institutions in the country over to their side of an issue?
(Are you watching AMC's excellent new cable series Mad Men? Have you seen the movie Thank You for Smoking? If not, you should.)
Target point for Measure 50 is tobacco companies, and for R-67 insurance companies - who better if you could choose your opposition in a popularity contest? That doesn't mean either will necessarily pass; the outcome of both is in some doubt. The biggest reason for that is that these fat-pocketed targets aren't sitting still. They're throwing major bucks into these campaigns.
Their strategies are somewhat different, befitting the availability of their targets.