In an effort to develop more professional credibility in my marketing career, I will be periodically posting communications-related material.
So here we go…
On October 2nd, the country tuned in to the hotly anticipated vice presidential debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. Experts agreed that to succeed Sarah Palin had to know her facts, and Joe Biden had to know when to stop. Tough challenges for both candidates, as Palin has been criticized for her struggle with policy nuances in recent interviews with the media, and Biden has been described as condescending and patronizing, particularly damaging qualities when facing a sympathetic female opponent.
Before the vice presidential candidates had even left the stage, pundits were already weighing in with their analysis and commentary, and as expected, each party claimed victory for their candidate. However, whether you agree with Joe Biden or Sarah Palin, a key public relations lesson to take away from this vice presidential debate is: STAY ON MESSAGE!
The night was all about public relations, never public policy. Each candidate effectively communicated his and her prepared talking points and personality. In fact, Saturday Night Live’s recent spoof of the vice presidential debate mocks both Palin and Biden for these qualities, but also demonstrates that body gestures like Sarah Palin’s wink, key words like “maverick,” and repetition of phrases like “I repeat, 41% of the time,” kept both candidates on message and reinforcing their key points.
Governor Sarah Palin focused on directing the audience’s attention forward to a McCain-Palin administration not on the past and the Bush-Cheney administration. She repeated words like “maverick,” which she used to describe her running mate John McCain and herself that stuck in the minds of her audience. Palin spoke deliberately to “Joe Six Packs” and “Hockey Moms,” ordinary citizens in Anytown, USA, and she related to her audience when she reinforced her own role as a hockey mom, mother to a new baby with special needs, and wife in a middle class family.
Senator Joe Biden spoke about his thirty years of experience in the Senate. He argued this experience would bring much value to Barack Obama’s administration, which has been criticized for its inexperience. Just like Palin, he used repetition to drill his points into the minds of viewers. Biden also focused on his integrity and ethics, reminding people of his personal tragedy of losing his wife and daughter in car accident, which connected him to the audience who could relate to loss and sympathize with him.
Since both Biden and Palin would be number twos in an administration, being liked is very important for both of them. Both candidates displayed a friendly personality and remained civil to each other throughout the course of the debate. They established a connection with the audience by appearing approachable and easy to relate to, and they looked straight into the camera—straight into the eyes of their audience—throughout their responses in an effort to speak directly to voters watching at home. When they disagreed on an issue, rather than attack one another or stray from the matter at hand with jabs at each other, they hit their talking points again to stay on message—a great public relations tip for all of us trying to persuade our audience.
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