Sunday, August 06, 2006
Not Politics As Usual
byPoliticians need to be just as savvy as companies when considering the implications of the changing media landscape. For many political strategists, these changes revolve around the increasing importance of online tools to win public opinion and votes. Howard Dean set the stage in the run-up to the last presidential election, but we are now several acts later into the play and it’s really getting interesting. This New York Times article from April illustrates a sweeping shift in why and how the Web is becoming of paramount importance to the political process.
The Times article hints at one of the prime reasons the Internet is playing a more preeminent role in campaigns: the ability to more finely target an audience. This could be through email, websites, blogs or other online tools. Television reaches a large audience, but politicians know that constituencies really consist of sub-constituencies and the Web allows strategists the ability to finely hone a relevant message and send it—rifle shot—to the appropriate audience. The purpose of the political message can pertain to fund raising, event promotion, vote getting, base building and other key activities that are requisites for a successful outcome.
Just how far things have come in the two years since the last presidential election can be seen in an excerpt from the Times article: “President Bush’s media consultant, Mark McKinnon, said television advertising, while still critical to campaigns, had become markedly less influential in persuading voters that it was even two years ago. ‘I feel like a woolly mammoth,’ Mr. McKinnon said.”
Political strategists who are accustomed to the previous way of delivering a message are going to have a difficult time in the new world where they have much less control. These old-school strategists preferred communication messages that were “bullet proof.” In other words, the content was tightly controlled with little chance for negative spin. But, that is not the way it works in the age of the consumer empowered Web. A recent New York Times article clearly illustrates this point.
The world of politics has taken notice that trying to win votes en masse via traditional media has become a less productive end game. Support and votes add up one at a time to create an affirmative result, and increasingly the way to get to the victory speech appears to rely on the insightful use of a wide array of online tools.
