Obama’s presidential campaign has been held up as one of the most successful and galvanizing political races in recent history. It’s clear that the Obama team was innovative in using social media and universal themes (such as “change” and “hope”) to appeal to all voters.

Now that philosophical themes have given way to real-life legislation, the Obama team has new lessons to share with the public relations community — particularly how to translate campaign promises into detailed legislation, mobilized constituents and nitty-gritty details. In the words of Real World (which, coincidentally, is filming in Washington right now), “what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real?”

1. Depend on loyal supporters in times of crisis — The biggest mistake we’ve seen so far has been the underestimating of the town hall meetings. Democratic leaders and Obama supporters have been slow to respond to the town hall meetings; instead, it appears that only critics of the upcoming health care bill are the only ones that care about health care reform.If our organization is being attacked, we should encourage brand loyalists to defend us. Obama is using the same e-mail list of the supporters he gathered during the campaign to share legislation and action steps for his followers, a great way to translate the momentum he gathered during the campaign to legislative steps toward health care reform.

Continue reading " Lessons from the Obama Administration (and Town Hall Meetings): PR Practitioners Listen Up! "

The role of the public relations professional is changing — not only are the faces of media changing, with social media and other “new” technology, but the industries we represent can change even as we advocate on their behalf. The challenge to maneuver, reposition and speak on the fly has never been as evident as during the Obama campaign last year, where every minute new developments changed campaign strategies. As advocates of a presidential candidate, our roles as public affairs professionals were constantly changing to effectively appeal to the latest town and the latest news.

Public relations and political campaigning are similar endeavors — they require the same persistence, relationship-driven successes and the ability to transform crises into media opportunities. However, campaign press relations and public relations differ in that the press and advance practitioner on the stump move in real-time against changing parameters, competitive candidate claims or attack ads, while the public relations exec can leverage messages or products/services that seem relatively stationary.

Public relations professionals create personal and long-term connections with the trade press popular press, and have a rolodex of connections in the blogosphere. In campaign press relations, only the traveling press that move with the candidate are available for an ongoing relationship. The national political writers and commentators are important, but in the Obama campaign it was all about local or statewide media in what seemed like a blur of caucus or primary states. You don’t ever go home again — or at least President Obama did not head back to Iowa until closer to the election.

Continue reading " New Role for Public Relations Pros: Best Practices from the Obama Media Trail "

Working press and advance for the Obama for President campaign was the highlight of over a quarter century of my experience in public relations and public affairs. Starting with a “messaging boot camp” in NYC two summers ago, the Obama campaign honed my national media connections, hanging with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and John King. I learned valuable lessons about leveraging social media and proving how scale works and can win with Web-based fund raising and today’s media relations.

I was involved on the Obama Tech, Media and Telecom media relations team and the Obama Small Business committee. These relationships have lead to my helping PRSA reach Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to bestow PR Professional of the Year at the White House. Shortly after, I landed a regular column on Huffington Post and had. Shortly after, I landed a regular column on Huffington Post, here is what I said about my experience working on Press and Advance in “What I Saw at the Revolution — Obama Campaign.” David Plouffe’s outlook said that the improbable primary victories kept the team going; they “just wanted to make a good showing”!
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Here is what folks will learn if they come to my case study cool talk at this year’s PRSA International Conference in San Diego:

• Learning Saul Alinsky-style grassroots organizing techniques.
• Energizing and engaging your base (stakeholders).
• Creating a dialogue in social networks and leveraging for positive outcomes.

At the 2008 Democratic National Convention

Of course, Michael Smith Business Development (MSBD) was at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). I had press credentials and worked for both Reuters.com “inside the tent” and for the Huffington Post’s “off the bus” features. As a citizen blogger, I built relationships for MSBD with politicians, including New Jersey and Virginia Governors Corzine and Warner and House Democratic Majority Leader Senators Hoyer and Rockefeller. I even made connections with CNN’s jounalists  John King, Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer and some Hollywood stars  like Matthew Modine, Richard Schiff, Anne Hathaway, Susan Sarandon and Dana Delaney.

Continue reading " The Obama Campaign Public Relations Experience: The Mike Smith Citizen Journalist Story "