Tuesday, October 26, 2010

I approve this brilliant idea

I like to think that I'm a marketing genius. Marketing is basically making people want stuff they don't need. That's easy. Human beings are predisposed to do that anyway. Look at the stuff cluttering your surroundings right now and tell me I'm wrong. It's like gently nudging someone standing on the edge of a cliff who climbed up there to jump anyway. The only challenge is finding a way to stand out and draw attention away from your competition. So if you're even slightly creative, being a marketing genius is not that difficult.
If I worked in the political arena, where I would apply my marketing genius is in conveying a consistent message. *GASP! WHAT A CONCEPT!* No, not on issues and such. Who gives a shit about that? I mean in public presentation. What you have right now are words and images that don't gibe. Nasty accusations and character assaults delivered with warm, flawless, toothy grins. Like this: 
"Die, blood-sucking corporate douchebag"     "Up yours, Maoist."
This is disingenuous and deceitful behavior and it's no wonder why the public doesn't trust these people. So all I would have to do to stand out from my competition would be to remain consistent in my message and demeanor. Now, I could advise the candidate to follow the mean and nasty path, which would be fun and make for good tv, but I'd probably go the other way and one of our ads would sound something like this:

"Hi there. As you know, I'm running for _________ and I'm seeking your vote. My opponent and I have fundamental philosophical differences of opinion but I don't believe that makes them a bad person. In fact, I think they've had some good ideas and done solid work over the years. If nothing else, they should be commended for their commitment to public service. I would never demean or insult their character, or yours by extension, since so many of you support them. I just believe that I have some new and better ideas and that I'm better suited for the job at this time, that's all. 
Since it's impossible for any reasonably intelligent person to form an educated opinion on complex issues based on a sixty second television ad, I'm not even going to make an attempt to influence you to do so now. Instead, I'd like to invite you to check out some of my ideas and proposals when you have time to do so without the distraction of a ball game or talk show or whatever program this particular ad is airing in the middle of. You can visit my web site or even stop by my campaign headquarters, whatever's best for you. If I happen to be there, I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have."

Okay, I got carried away and lost any semblance of reality with the second paragraph but you get the general idea 

1 comment:

Ruprecht said...

Rupe's convinced.

He'll vote for you.

What are you running for ... ???