As anyone who has been following the presidential campaign this year already knows, there is no bigger media superstar than the presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama.

While Obama’s superstar status may not translate into an election-day victory – John McCain played the role of media darling in 2000 and it didn’t help him beat George W. Bush – it is odd that on the same day the McCain campaign was complaining about press coverage, a feature story appeared in the Washington Post that detailed how McCain refuses to embrace new media as a tool for reaching younger, more technology-savvy voters.

The point here isn’t about whose political strategy makes the most sense, but rather the broader notion that if you are struggling to break through in traditional forms of media, there exists a plethora of ways to get your message out in the Information Age.

Whether you are a candidate running for office, the CEO of a major company, or the leader of a sovereign nation, it is time to embrace modern technology and new media as part of your communications infrastructure – not just to reach younger audiences, but as a way of defining your message, your brand, and your identity before your adversaries define you.

Not all forms of new media make sense for everyone. But assemble your communications professionals, both internal and external, to develop a strategy for reaching audiences through non-traditional means. Text messaging, blogging, twittering, social networking, and search engine optimization are all tactics that can help position you in a better light.