By Kevin Foley
The Citizens United Supreme Court decision opened the floodgates for political advertising, permitting just about anyone to anonymously promote a candidate or cause.
In its wake, GOP operative Karl Rove wasted no time setting up Crossroads GPS, where well heeled conservatives can concentrate their money with the goal of achieving the political result they desire. Political action committees are pouring dollars into advertising along with Democratic and Republican national committees.
Local market television and radio stations and broadcast and cable networks are reaping the bonanza as broadcast schedules fill up with political ads.
I'm vacationing at my home in Bozeman, Montana, at the moment. This is a town of about 40,000. The entire state has less than a million residents, yet local airwaves contain one political ad after the next. It's a scene repeated across the country and even more so in the battle ground states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.
And it's only August.
Come September, we'll reach the saturation point. Eyes glazed, annoyed voters will be tuning out, changing the channel or turning the TV off. Of course, ad executives will tell you if one political spot is good, a thousand must be great, but in truth, they know the public's appetite for a torrent of ever nastier commercials hits the point of diminishing returns sooner rather than later.
That's why I believe the winner of this election will be the one with the best public relations game, the goal to get their message to viewers through earned rather than paid media. Thus, questions I would ask the candidates' media teams are these:
What is the PR strategy for your candidate? Is it well defined, thorough and consistent? Does your candidate understand the media strategy and does he or she buy into it?
Does your candidate respect the power the media? Is the candidate media accessible? Is he or she fully prepared to discuss his or her positions and then field media questions challenging them?
How passionate is the candidate? Does he or she express that passion during speeches and public appearances? Can the candidate articulate his vision in a few articulate, cogent, memorable lines that connect with the audience?
Is your candidate talking about why he or she is the right choice or focusing only on why the opponent is the wrong choice?
What are the images around the candidate? Television is a visual medium, after all, so do the candidate's surroundings communicate his or her message?
Most important, does the candidate respect the intelligence of the audience?
If not, your candidate will likely lose.
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Kevin
Foley is president of KEF
Media Associates, an Atlanta-based producer and distributor
of sponsored news content to television and radio media. |