Selling a political candidate is the same as selling, soap, beer, what ever. Perhaps this little essay should be called marketing to emphasize that it is about convincing people in the market place. The proof of success comes at elections. How many people make their marks by your candidate's name? If it is more than 50% he, she or it has an absolute majority. If it is more than the second runner it is still a win but not quite so convincing.
The important question is how to get there in the first place. This involves applied psychology. One way to get access to the expertise is using consultants. Doing it in house may well be better. Working with people you know and trust has advantages. A marketing department can be built up over time. It will understand the people and the issues. We know that the Tories used Saatchi & Saatchi to get votes and victory. Cheap they were not; they were cost effective though.
Fortunately there are books out there which tell us a lot about the whole thing. At a minimum they enable us to ask the right questions. The first is Risk by Dan Gardner, a Canadian writer who covers a lot of the research in plain English.
It turns out that we have two sections in our brains. The old one connects directly to the spine and is firmly committed to staying alive. Survival of the fittest over thousands of generations ensured that. The higher part, the reasoning part developed later and interacts with the old part, the amygdala sometimes. Since all signals going to the brain get to the amygdala first they are dealt with using the hard wired reactions of survivors. This means making important decisions fast using rules that worked when we lived in small bands in Africa, in the Rift Valley. The reasoning part gets data later and reacts slower or not at all. This is one reason why pictures are so effective. Reading means using the conscious mind. Even if we are fluent it takes longer.
So we make decisions about people, places and issues without knowing anything has happened. We like the look of someone or not. Why? The conscious brain will not admit not knowing; it makes up a story on the spur of the moment. Marketing men know this or just take account of it using rules of thumb. Dealing with Stone Age Man is different. We know that Sex sells. The beer advert has young women without much clothing. Stone Age man makes the connection. It works.
Fear is another important driver. A picture of a lion attacking worries. Consciously we know it is just a picture. Our subconscious does not but it gets to deal with the issue first.
What does it take to make a good candidate? Looks matter. That is why John Kennedy sold so well. The background in television adverts is a lot more important than mere words. Different phrasing matters too. 75 out of 100 people prefer sliced bread is far more effective than 75 percent....... 75 is a number we understand. 75% is an abstraction that leaves Stone Age man cold.
Read for yourself. Think for yourself. Decide for yourself but start with Risk especially Chapter 7, Fear Inc.
Risk - The Science and Politics of Fear by Dan Gardner
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This is a really fascinating book and makes you question the role of the media in our understanding of the world. We are constantly bombarded by negative messages from every corner and Gardner persuasively illustrates how our rational brains are unable to calculate the real level of risk to us. Our instinctive survival responses seem to override our rational knowledge and so we are left fearful and stressed by the messages we receive from the media and politicians. Gardner looks at how fear is used to manipulate us and it is really thought-provoking reading.
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The book is better than the reviews. It has a lot to tell us about how our brains work and why. It also explains the research is going into manipulating us. Sex sells! So does fear. A lot, probably most marketing is aimed at our subconscious minds.
Words That Work - It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear by Frank Luntz
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Well, there is certainly something to be said about a book which has generated so many negative comments and "reviews," particularly by those who admit they have not even read "Words That Work." In this review I am not going to discuss the specific contents of the book since that is available elsewhere. I want to focus on some of the criticisms instead.
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An interesting point which indicates that people read and review books with their biases and prejudices switched full on. It is worth having even if you are a communist subversive or one of Lenin's Useful Idiots
How Customers Think - Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market by Gerald Zaltman
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Few would have any argument with the central thesis of this book. Most new products fail rapidly in unexpected ways, suggesting that a misunderstanding of what is required by customers is part of the problem. Professor Zaltman goes on to suggest that his patented approach to considering more aspects of customer thinking (especially emotion, associations and context) can help improve matters.The book argues successfully that most marketing research methods are misused (usually by being applied to solve the wrong class of problem). He also does a fine job of explaining how marketers' attitudes and opinions create myopia that prevents them from learning what they need to know.
There is extensive material in the book about how the brain works in the context of purchasing decisions. For those who are familiar with brain research, there is little new here.
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This does not come across as the book to buy. It has a narrow focus and may be more about selling Professor Zaltman's product.
Campaigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work.. by Ted Brader
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It is common knowledge that televised political ads are meant to appeal to voters' emotions, yet little is known about how or if these tactics actually work. Ted Brader's innovative book is the first scientific study to examine the effects that these emotional appeals in political advertising have on voter decision-making.
At the heart of this book are ingenious experiments, conducted by Brader during an election, with truly eye-opening results that upset conventional wisdom. They show, for example, that simply changing the music or imagery of ads while retaining the same text provokes completely different responses. He reveals that politically informed citizens are more easily manipulated by emotional appeals than less-involved citizens and that positive "enthusiasm ads" are in fact more polarizing than negative "fear ads." Black-and-white video images are ten times more likely to signal an appeal to fear or anger than one of enthusiasm or pride, and the emotional appeal triumphs over the logical appeal in nearly three-quarters of all political ads.
Brader backs up these surprising findings with an unprecedented survey of emotional appeals in contemporary political campaigns. Politicians do set out to campaign for the hearts and minds of voters, and, for better or for worse, it is primarily through hearts that minds are won. Campaigning for Hearts and Minds will be indispensable for anyone wishing to understand how American politics is influenced by advertising today.
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Ted is on the right lines.