We analyzed the messaging of Senator Clinton's "Sopranos Spoof" home page in a three part arc and followed that with a three part analysis arc on Governor Romney's 23 June 07 home page. This is part three in a meta-analysis of several presidential campaign sites.
We're not considering the obvious changes to any site. Political sites change every day as things happen in the world. We're not really interested in the candidates' responses to other candidates, political situations or world events. What this and other columns in this series will focus on is how the designs of these websites influence how visitors to the websites think. In other words, how the politicians want you to think when you're thinking about them.
NextStage Evolution does not endorse any campaign or candidate. Our interest is purely in how campaigns and candidates communicate to different populations.
We left off recognizing that a campaign done right will reach better than 25% of the US population.
Want to get one quarter of the US population on your side quickly and easily? Simple. Tell them the past was a major downer. It was bad, big time. Don't tell them about the future, about your plans, about what you're going to do to make things better. The first thing politicians need to do to capture one quarter of the vote is agree with that one quarter of Americans of all creeds and colors; life in America's recent past was a stretch and strain by any measure you cared to make.Now that you have them listening, you can tell them anything else you want and they'll hear you. But first you have to agree with them to let them know you're on their side. In business parlance, this is known as "If the customer wants vanilla, give them vanilla."
This brings us to which candidates are being heard? Well, they're all being heard, of course. Who's being heard the most?
Who's being heard the most has more to do with budget and network more than exactly what the candidates say and how they say it. But let's consider a completely level playing field. Put all the candidates in front of equally interested listeners, put them on TV in front of equally interested viewers, and who does the best job of communicating to the people the way the largest percentage of people are most likely to pay attention?
(more to follow)
Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.
Links for this post:
- How Politicians Want You to Think - Senator Clinton arc
- How Politicians Want You to Think - Governor Romney arc
- How Politicians Want You to Think - Who's Saying It Best, Part 1
- How Politicians Want You to Think - Who's Saying It Best, Part 2
- XChange on 20-21 Sept 07
- DC Emetrics Summit on 14-17 Oct '07
- Society for New Communications Research Annual Research Symposium & Awards Gala on 5-6 Dec 07 in Boston.
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