A SPLIT DECISION IN TWO STATES
When it comes to
politics, is there any difference between public relations messaging and
branding? I don’t believe so. Much is being said these days about the implosion
of the Republican Party brand - many believe that the electorate sees little or
no difference between the GOP conservatives and the Tea Party ultra-conservatives. If that belief continues to take root and
grow, the 2014 political landscape will be a very interesting one for all of us
observers and commentators. Tomorrow’s candidates will need to be clearly
identifiable, preferably with a one-word campaign slogan (think FORWARD). They need to offer new ideas and a positive vision
for the future to the electorate.
WAR
ON WOMEN
An almost text-book
example of messaging, the negative versus the positive, comes from the recent gubernatorial
elections. Two races, one in Virginia and one in New Jersey, caught the
interest of the nation and have been hot topics of discussion across all media
platforms. The Republican Party was branded in the early stages of the Virginia
campaign as a party waging a “War on Women.” It is vital to note that this branding was
foisted on them by their opposition, the Democratic Party. I can’t stress it enough, brand yourself or
someone else will do it for you. Make your message or someone else will make it
for you.
NEW,
NOW, NEXT
At the conclusion of
the first race, Terry McAuliffe (D) eked out a narrow win over Ken Cuccinelli
(R), the former Virginia Attorney General. Almost as soon as the votes had been
counted, Peter Shumlin, Vermont Governor and chairman of the Democratic Governors
Association was putting his party’s spin on the outcome, terming it “a rebuke
to the GOP”. He went on to call the victory a foreshadowing of the
midterm governor’s races coming up next year. While neither candidate
actually came up with anything new for the electorate, the McAuliffe public
relations team managed to surround him in a glow of positive branding. Better
known as a Clinton fund-raiser, he gained that new, now, next appeal.
BRANDING
In contrast to
Shumlin’s spin, there was silence from Bobby Jindal, Louisiana Governor and
chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Silence, that is, until the Cuccinelli camp complained
to Matt Lewis, columnist at the conservative Daily Caller website, that Bobby
Jindal and his team “totally blew it.” The
RGA rebuttal was that they had “a close working relationship with the Cuccinelli
campaign and were surprised by the criticism.” They said that the RGA wanted to start running
negative ads very early on in the race, but the Cuccinelli campaign was fearful
of being the first to attack. Again, brand yourself or someone else will do it
for you. Make your message or someone else will make it for you. Be the first
if that’s what it’s going to take.
SPIN
From these two
examples, we see that messaging and spin are critical. A social media strategy
allied to a digital campaign is essential for success in today’s political
environment. A weak Democratic candidate with a superior understanding of public
relations and messaging won. The former
State Attorney General, with no social media presence to speak of, no digital
footprint, and a less than stellar public relations/messaging effort, lost. Indeed, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Chairman of the House Rules
Committee, called on the GOP to do everything it can to win back the senate by
focusing on messaging. He believes that everything the party does should be messaged
with an eye to winning big in 2014. Only
time will tell if anyone listens to his sage advice.
NEW
JERSEY
Very similar to the
Virginia race, the gubernatorial election in New Jersey was a contest between a
weak Democratic candidate in Barbara Buono, and the controversial incumbent,
Chris Christie. His campaign was lively,
forceful and loud. The governor came with baggage, having warred with the
teachers’ unions and made unpopular decisions on property taxes and state
pensions. His public relations team did
an outstanding job of melding Christie’s outspoken personality to the carefully
crafted image of an aggressive, unrepentant reformer. Christie was and remains his
own brand and his own message.
THE BLAME GAME
Barbara Buono’s (D-NJ)
public relations campaign was clearly not as successful as Christie’s. Although the candidate had a presence across
several social media platforms, there was a glaring mismanagement of messaging
from the beginning. With two weeks to go in the race, Buono started to pull her
message together. It was too late. Again,
the golden rule of branding and messaging – brand yourself or someone else will do
it for you. Make your message or someone else will make it for you. In an honest concession speech she
blamed her own party:
"The Democratic political bosses some elected some not made a deal with this governor despite him representing almost everything they're against," she said. "They didn't do it for the state. They did it to help themselves politically and financially. but we did it our way and I'm proud of that."
The Democratic Party
bosses in New Jersey may share in the blame for Buono’s election trouncing, but
the candidate’s own team needs to revisit their public relations strategy,
messaging and branding plan.
PERSONALITY
Contrasting the two
separate elections in Virginia and in New Jersey, where one conservative lost
in a purple state and one conservative won in a blue state, the GOP has
attempted to downplay the Christie win, saying that his personality contributed
to the landslide win, just as Cuccinelli’s reportedly dour social conservatism
helped lead to his loss. If it were only that simple! Personality matters, yes, but effective
branding and messaging are critical to the mix. In this case, I believe it was
that Christie’s team has remained on-point not only during his gubernatorial re-election
campaign, but throughout his career. It was hardly an accident that Christie
refused to campaign with Cuccinelli. Sometimes, public relations people need to
keep candidates away from each other. Looking down the New Jersey turnpike
towards Virginia, Christie’s team must have seen Cuccinelli as “off-brand” -
conservative, but too much so.
Christie understood
the importance of refining his brand and sticking to it. In the end, what is it with him? Personality
or messaging? Maybe a little of both.
Margaret Mulvihill is Director of Communications at Lawson Mulvihill in Washington, DC. Follow her on Twitter: @lawsonmulvihill @currentpolitic