Branding Barack
I posted this in my journal. Thought the comm would find it amusing.

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So... here's a quick lesson in political PR and branding.

Your client is a political candidate. He isn't terribly hip. He's African-American, (and has therefore automatically lost the nebulous, yet no-doubt substantial racist vote.) He's made more than a million dollars for each of the past three years. But, his core base is a young demographic. If he can win them over, he can win it all. So he needs to appear in touch with the economic plight of the middle class and he needs to seem cooler than his opponents. (That first bit shouldn't be hard considering his background. As for the second, the Republican has qualified for AARP since before the Soviet Union collapsed, and his Democratic opponent is thought of as an emasculating woman in her 60's who incidentally scares the bejeezus out of the rednecks.)

So, you're a PR pro. What do you do?

Solution: Set his rallies up as rock concerts. A popular local band plays, and then Mr. Politician comes out and gives a charismatic speech with lots of idealistic talking points. Perfect to appeal to younger voters who are still convinced they can change the world. (Remember the old aphorism: A Republican is a Democrat who's been mugged.)

Why it works: The band draws the crowd. The crowd stays to hear him speak. If they don't seem interested in what he has to say, change up the schedule and have him speak between sets.

Plus, he'll get photographed speaking to crowds that look like this:



Cool, eh?

They're called BaROCK concerts. Here's one with Stevie Wonder. Another with Third Eye Blind and Wilco. Arcade Fire and Superchunk. Local group The Decemberists played in Portland. Once the momentum hits, your guy won't even have to show up in person to speak. He just taped an intro for this Grateful Dead concert.

Brilliant. :) (Well, it is to ME, anyway. I'm a publicist. I'm fascinated by this stuff.)

Now here's a question. When the mainstream media reports on the massive turnout at his rallies, do you think they'll bother to mention that a popular local band helped draw and warmed up the crowd?

Nope. Nope. Nope.

Is he charismatic? Sure. Is he drawing large crowds? Yep! Is he likely to be the Democratic nominee? Of course!

Should we have been told about this by the media rather than have him portrayed as the second coming?

Definitely.

Hype isn't always what it seems.