Lessons from the Bunker or is it now War Room?

Machiavellian Marketing Reflections on Political

Candidates, Parties and Policies

Phil Harris, Department of Marketing

University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Pharris@business.otago.ac.nz

Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469-1527

• Meritocratic Rise• Desire to Serve• Exceptional

Observer• First Political

Scientist and Political Marketer

• Strength and Direction

• Forced Retirement

Machiavelli’s Epigrammatic Style

“Everyone sees what you appear to be; few experience what you really are.” The Prince.

“Old injuries are never suppressed by new benefits.’’ Discourses on Livy.

.

Original Machiavellian Script

Machiavelli’s Core Thoughts• Morality. 16th or 21st Century• Two levels of ethics. Public and Private.• Moral worth of one not superior to

other.• That which would produce the most

practical result should take precedence.• Government will have to act in ways

that are publicly moral but privately immoral.

Emergence of Political and Societal Marketing

• Application of Marketing to Politics and society (Cicero to Newman)

• Use of consumer behaviour and geo-demographics to target purchasers of politics and societal demand

• Use of image (branding), voter behaviour, promotion, party management, media management and referenda.

• Bought advertising to influence opinion and win votes.

Political and Societal Marketing Issues

• Past concentration on electoral or political communication.

• Growth of Political (Machiavellian ) lobbying to gain competitive advantage/influence the regulator.

• Funding and Influence. • Internationalisation, role of the

consultant

The Development of Public Affairs

• Growth of Lobbying. EU, WTO etc• Abuse, globalization and greater

controls• Growth in response to complexities of

global market/government as regulator

• Lobbying over £6 billion in EU• Transparency in EU and Standards in

Public Life.

Cesare Borgia MkII

• Fraud– Jack Abramoff

• high-profile lobbyist connected to various high level politicians

• Corporate lobbying– oil companies against Kyoto protocol– Broadcasters lobbying against 35% ownership

restrictions

• “Think tanks”– Private lobbyist firms

UK Aircraft Carrier Contract

Lobbying for Military Contracts

• UK Future aircraft carriers (2) plus joint combat aircraft and maritime surveillance and control projects

• Funding £ 31 billion including £12 billion of acquisition costs

• UK Joint Combat Aircraft £2,034 million (US/UK contract/technology collaboration)• Military Vehicles, Pandur (General

Dynamics), General Motors supply NZ

• Australian Invasion

Examples of Negative Advertising

Machiavelli’s Advice• The need to appreciate real politics, achieving

ends and an awareness of real decision making, whether we deem them amoral or not.

• Lobbying and public affairs management, he would recognise as of vital importance to maintaining competitiveness in the 21st Century.

• The strategic importance of access and being able to influence government to gain competitive advantage.

• The importance of being able to manage the political process, being able to predict election results and to exert influence in campaigns to achieve just political ends.

• An appreciation of political marketing to be able to influence and predict the economic, political and regulatory landscape.

Political Marketing

“the communication process between voters and political entities”

(Lock & Harris, 1996),

Small Poppy Syndrome:

Use of Fear of Fear

Use Of Emails: leakiest in the world

Small Poppy Syndrome

• Use of denigration to undermine change

• Desire to remain insular and small minded as a virtue, stop growth

• We have always done it this way

US Presidential Count Down

35

37

39

41

43

45

47

49

51

53

55

Dates

Per

cen

tag

e o

f V

ote

Clinton

Giuliani

LESSONS FROM THE BUNKER:CANDIDATE IMAGE & VOICE

• Voice Comparisons: The vocal cord primaries by Kathleen Hall Jamieson.

• Romney won on authority, but lost on energy.• Clinton sounded shrill and borders on passionate • Obama sounds caring/almost like a clergyman• Rudy Giuliani has a lisp but it didn’t seem to hurt

him especially after 9/11

Conclusions : A DEEP VOICE suggests:DOMINANCE EXPERTISE and COMPETENCE

LESSONS FROM THE BUNKER:CANDIDATE IMAGE & VOICE

• John Daly, Professor of Communications in his book on persuasion, “ Voice Matters –It’s What Sells”

• Daly’s suggests that people who speak a bit faster than normal are perceived as a more competent, persuasive and likeable- The speed doesn’t allow listeners time to think about what has been said (and to counter argue)

• Average English speaker utters 125-150 words a minute and comprehends about twice as much

• Speech slows with age and loses clarity

LESSONS FROM THE BUNKER:CANDIDATE IMAGE & VOICE

• According to the US public speaking coach, Richard Greene, “ Emotionally, voters will want to embrace your ideas because you have touched them with your passion”

• High pitched voice suggests nervousness and excitability (Ross Perot and Howard Dean)

• Pitch variation (or inflection) is as important as pitch – it conveys passion and energy _ Clinton had the highest variation, Romney the least

• Reagan conveyed warmth

LESSONS FROM THE BUNKER:

SUBLIMINAL SUGGESTIONS

LESSONS FROM THE BUNKER:Engagement and Fundraising

• The Obama campaign has raised $265 million by the end of April, more than two-and-a-half times as much as McCain.

• Had Obama accepted public funds, as McCain is expected to do, both candidates would have been limited to spending $84.1 million

• The Obama campaign said on May 6 that it had surpassed 1.5 million individual donors, and it probably has many more than that by now.

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• A marriage of the online community with their on the ground campaign operations- the result of Obama’s days as an activist in Chicago who believes in creating a campaign as a vehicle for involving people and giving them a stake in the government that he believes in

• Changed top-down, command & control broadcast tv model, that has dominated US politics since early 1960’s

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• People who come to events (that include up to 20,000 people that are asked to do more than just to come to the event – they are asked to make phone calls, canvas, get out the vote )– no different from direct marketing tools used when customers buy products and are asked to fill out reply cards.

• Obama Campaign is the perfect example of a bottom up campaign – Here is how it works.

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• Here is how it worked in Texas:

• 1.Take a State with 100,000 people who have signed-up on their website and put in their Zipcode

• 2. Paid organisers get in touch with these people in a zipcode and help them build their organization bottom up.

• 3. The campaign posts an event on their social network (similar to Facebook), called “MYBO” (MY.BARACKOBAMA.COM)

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• 4. Residents who have donated to the campaign or surrendered their addresses as the price of admission to an Obama rally

• 5. The people who show up are not micro-managed by the paid organiser – they organise their own rallys, recruit and train a crew of fellow Obama supporters to man their own events and recruit and train a crew of fellow Obama supporters to man their precinct on election day

MY.BARACKOBAMA.COM

• 6. To identify and mobilise Obama Backers, they log onto the password-protected TEXASPRECINCTCAPTAINS.COM, Download the phone numbers of targeted voters, make calls from their homes and upload the results to Austin based HQ

• 7. They organise early-voting open houses- which will be publicised on “MYBO”- To boost turnout among core supporters.

MY.BARACKOBAMA.COM

My PointsMy Points

A listing of points and actions for Jo KIWI Voter.

25 points, 496046th place (only 1 point more to move up)« Return to Your

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• What type of event should I select? • Community Service Demonstrate that our campaign is about more

than just politics• Debate Watching Party Get together to watch Barack debate.• Fundraising Guests will be able to pledge and donate online when

they RSVP• Meeting A gathering of local Obama supporters• Organizing Tabling, door-knocking, laefletting.• Texas 2/23 House Party In neighbourhoods across Texas, Obama

supporters will gather to organise and then go out into their communities to canvass and encourage others to Early Vote

• Women for Obama House Party Host other Obama supporters into your home to help build the movement

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• Create Your Blog • Fill out the form below to set up your blog.• Blog Title:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/

• Enter the URL you want your blog to have. Letters and numbers only.

• Blog Description: This optional description will show up at the top of your blog above your posts.

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• Member Posts • The following posts were created from our member blogs.•

Page 1 of 6355 | Next | Last • St. Patrick's Day Party• By John Cavanaugh - Mar 11th, 2008 at 11:30 am EDT• Also listed in: 5 groups • Please join us this Friday for the Annual O'Grady St. Patrick's Day Party. This year the event will

take place at Byrnes Pub in the Grandview area. It is easily one of best events you will ever attend and below are more details:

Event: Annual O'Grady St. Patrick's Day Party

Location: Byrne's Pub, 1248 W. Third Ave, Columbus, OH 43212

Time: 5:00 pm

Suggested Donation: $35

RSVP or Questions: Call (614) 221-8476 or email finance@johnogrady.org• Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• Moms for Obama• CREATED: FEB 10TH, 2008 DISTANCE: 0

MILES • Illinois for Obama• CREATED: FEB 10TH, 2008 DISTANCE:

9.98 MILES • NW Suburbs of Chicago for Obama!• CREATED: FEB 13TH, 2008 DISTANCE:

5.84 MILES

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• Monday, March 31 at 6:00 PM • Wine & Cheese for Obama (FUNDRAISING)• TYLES (SCHAUMBURG, IL) - 11.0 MILES

AWAY • This event is for Barack Obama supporters who

want to enjoy a fine wine tasting experience while raising money for the campaign. A $40...

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• P.S. If a minimum of 15 supporters do not respond, we will reschedule or cancel the event.

• Time:Monday, March 31 at 6:00 PMDuration:3 hoursHost:Shea & Reggie TownsendLocation:WINESTYLES (SCHAUMBURG, IL) 40 W. SCHAUMBURG ROADSCHAUMBURG, IL 60194 VIEW MAP:

• GOOGLE MAPS • MAPQUEST • YAHOO! MAPS

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• Technology allows a candidate to raise money quickly and inexpensively – the Internet dramatically shortens the gap between political success and raising money

• In the old days, calls were made after a successful debate and then cheques were couriered

• Fundraising required events with week’s of advance notice – today, if you do well in a debate, you can raise large sums of money by the next morning - Effective fundraising is a mouse click away

OBAMA WEBSITE LINKS• FACEBOOK• MYSPACE• YOUTUBE • FLICKR• DIGG• TWITTER• EVENTFUL• LINKEDIN• BLACKPLANET• FAITHBASE• EONS• GLEE• MIGENTE• MYBATANGA• ASIANAVE• DNC PARTYBUILDER

TWITTER

• What is Twitter?• What? • Why? • How? • • Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–

workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

MYBATANGA

• GO OBAMA !!!!!!! GREAT RESULTS ARE COMING IN, WE ALL NEED TO PULL TOGETHER,  CAST OUR VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA AND GIVE US A CHANGE FOR OUR FUTURE. TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW. Reply Posted By: lunada, Feb 09, 2008 | 12:56 pm

• Hola Barack, desde Venezuela te enviamos mucha energía positiva para que ganes y cumplas esa gran labor de sacar a África de la miseria donde está sumida. Buena suerte amigo.

EONS

• We're the online community for BOOMers!

• Stay in touch with your friends and make new ones

• Join or start Groups to fuel your passions and interests

• Play games, build your brain, and have fun!

Lessons from The Bunker Bridging Marketing and Politics

• Dinner with Barack• Too many political fundraisers are hosted by

Washington lobbyists and filled with representatives of special interests. But our campaign is different. Our funding comes from a movement of more than one million supporters like you giving whatever they can afford. Make a donation in any amount between now and 11:59 pm EDT on Monday, March 31st, and you could join Barack and three other supporters for an intimate dinner for five.

CLINTON WEBSITE LINKS

• MYSPACE

• FACEBOOK

• YOUTUBE

• FLICKR

Public Affairs and Political Lobbying

• Driven by need to Gain Competitive advantage

• Globalisation. Trade Blocs. Corporations. NGO’s• Government as Regulator • International Government• Big Issues: Energy, Telecoms, Media,

Utilities, Pharms and services

Attack Advertising

Negative Advertising

Political Lobbying

• Driven by need to Gain Competitive advantage

• Globalisation. Trade Blocs.

Corporations. NGO’s

• Government as Regulator

• International Government

• Big Issues: Telecoms, Media, Utilities, Pharms and now services

Campaign against NIKE

http://www.american.edu/TED/nike.htm accessed on 27/03/07.

JUST DO IT!

Justdoit!boycottNike. (1998). http://www.geocities.com/athens/acropolis/5232/ accessed on 27/03/07

political lobbying• “Driven by need to gain competitive advantage”

• NGO’s– Environmental groups

• Greenpeace vs. Esso

– Tobacco• Philip Morris vs. gov’t

indirect lobbying?

• World “No Tobacco” Day

• “Thank You For Smoking”

Communication & image dishonest, immoral, incompetent, slick trustworthy, intelligent, compassionate, honourable

• Verbal communication

• Non verbal

• Political act or behaviour

Mental representation

Image

IMAGE

• Kevin v Johnny ?

Image

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VaP1HB7Vew

Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady

Too beautiful to be elected…

‘a government that was too male, too Western and too Catholic’

Iran• History, Iran, a

country of contradictions

• We are Iran: the Persian Blogs.

Iran 's Blog

Yushchenko Campaign

Ends and Means• Judge politicians by what they do

during the day

and not what they do at night.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Thank You. Any Questions