I’m increasingly interested in cause and effect, and patterns. Part of that has to do with my ‘day job’ as a marketer. Part has to do with my hobby of practicing sleight-of-hand magic. (The two relate more closely, sometimes, than I’d care to admit.)

When I see a great magician, like everybody else in the audience, I try to figure out how the illusion works. It’s quite a bit easier to figure out the mechanics of it, once you know the secret. The same is true about big marketing projects – the best marketing is invisible…you don’t notice it, and it seems as though everything just happened spontaneously.

In musical theatre, there’s a saying that “nobody ever goes home whistling the lights.” Lighting is essential. Without lighting, you might as well close your eyes and listen to the radio. But when the lighting is really good, you don’t notice it. Same thing with the pit orchestra. If they do their jobs, you forget they are between you and the actors, and simply lose yourself in the story.

Compare that to marketing. The trouble with marketing is that, often times, it’s nowhere near as innocent – or harmless – as lighting or music.

Did you ever wonder why somebody you’ve never heard of is suddenly everywhere – magazine covers, TV shows, radio exposure, et cetera? That, my friends, is marketing and exceedingly skillful public relations work.

Unfortunately, the same techniques can be used to promote a candidate or a political agenda.

I’m (still) of the opinion that the mainstream media rescued John McCain’s candidacy from the ashes, and was at the very least complicit in handing him the GOP nomination. (It didn’t hurt that almost all the other candidates stumbled at the same time.)

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to observe the effect the media had on the Democrats this year, either. Obama came on like a force of nature. Oprah played kingmaker, and the mainstream media largely acted like a teenager with their first crush. Hillary (who a scant 24 months ago was herself the “Nominee-Elect”) was thrown on the scrap heap by the media faster than you can say “starter wife.” She wasn’t defeated. She was jilted.

I’m not a conspiracy-theory kinda guy, but I’m wondering if the use of marketing techniques in politics and public affairs is getting out of hand. The media reaction to Sarah Palin’s nomination is in large part a reaction to a couple of factors – she’s not someone that they’ve known, pontificated on, and anointed themselves, so she’s a challenge to their own perceived power, as well as an affront to their desire to control the agenda. “How DARE he nominate someone we don’t know/approve of!” That’s why Palin’s such a breath of fresh air – she defies their preconceived notions, and defies their expectations. She’s a walking, talking embodiment of American values, and a great story. If the media favored the Right, I’d be suspicious that they invented her, much in the vein of the plot outlined in Wag the Dog. People identify with her, because they sense that she’s the Real Deal. We haven’t seen that kind of authenticity in candidates for a long time. And it’s driving the people who’s job it is to teach the candidates how to fake sincerity, absolutely nuts. Every so often, it’s nice to know that it’s possible to shed the rose-colored glasses the media and big-time marketers trick us into wearing, and see the big picture, even if that rocks the world. And, with apologies to master marketer Marthat Stewart, that’s a good thing.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 12:44 am and is filed under advertising, marketing, media.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.