Writing Sample - Public Relations Strategy for Barack Obama

*This was a hypothetical strategy essay done for a Public Relations course at Portland State University.

Presidential candidate, Barack Obama has hired me to consult on public relations issues during the elections process. My objective is to see Sen. Obama take the Presidency in 2009. U.S. Voters, the audience we are targeting is broad in demographic range. To build an effective strategy, public relations messages should be in line with the perspective of the audience that would be most likely to vote for him. To discover this, we look at the population of voters that would relate to him personally. Sen. Obama’s qualifications include being a Harvard Law Graduate, Attorney, State Senator turned U.S. Senator. His demographics cover a wide range of the voting public including: Male, African-American, College+ Educated, Mixed Race, and Child of a Single-Mother. He appeals to the public in a more personal manner because his life experiences are real to them. He is looked at as being open about his history and his work as an advocate for underprivileged communities is an indication that he is down to earth, and understands his publics.

We have modeled the segmentation of our publics on the “people” section represented on the Barack Obama ’08 official website. People for Obama were:
~ Minorities: Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, African-Americans, First Americans (American Indians), Latinos, LGBT, Americans with disabilities, and Women.
~ Grassroots Groups: Generation Obama, People of Faith, Students for Obama, and Environmentalists for Obama.Labor (Unions)
~ Americans Abroad, and
~ Veterans.

Mr. Obama’s strengths are based on the broad appeal he holds for a majority of the voting public. (Shown in the segmentation of publics, above.) This large scale appeal is tempered by the fact that he appeals to such a wide range of those that not many candidates in the past have been able to capture. Thus, the grassroots support for Sen. Obama is large and diverse in scale, and able to reach a larger population of voters. This just illustrates the idea that he so successfully conveys to his publics; that every voice matters, and that everyone should be involved in choosing who leads their country to become what they want it to be. His use of the internet and web technology is relevant to many of his younger supporters in mediums such as: Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.

To Sen. Obama’s opponents, his relative inexperience and young age are viewed as a weakness. He is in fact, 47 years old, and has served 8 years in the Illinois State Senate, and 2 years in the U.S. Senate, he certainly is not the most senior among the candidates in either count. In the last year, negative connotation to his religious beliefs was brought to light by the outrageous statements made by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. His name has also caused some controversy, being associated with him being Muslim. This he asserts is not true, and is openly a member of the United Church of Christ. There is also the belief that he is too liberal and his calls for rapid and drastic change can easily be attributed to this view. These are factors that are not what we want the public to see when Sen. Obama speaks to the public, and we want to focus on a positive message.

Our strategy is to accentuate the strengths of Sen. Obama’s campaign, and carefully pick away at the weaknesses perceived by proving that they are not weaknesses after all. His youth and relative inexperience can be thought of positively, as the public’s cynicism grows in its poor view of politicians in general. He has a level of real and personal interaction with the public that many can relate to. It is important that Sen. Obama retains his everyman appeal, and remains accessible to his public. We will do this by extending his grassroots reach, using the web and community organized events. He has lived in many places, some abroad, and his messages have always centered on his world-view of American life, and the perspective he has to offer to Americans is important in his message during this election.The issue of his trustworthiness should be addressed fully, as a weakness that is perceived that we can directly target to eliminate. The text states that “ethics in government will become an even more important issue as voters insist on representatives who are honest, trustworthy, and ethical.” (p. 117) It seems that ethics are directly tied to the public’s opinion and ultimately, their vote for a particular candidate.

I believe that Sen. Obama is doing a good job in his communications with the public, and would like to establish an ethical theory that is presented in the text as a model for the campaign going forward. Jim Grunig’s “two-way communication model” is in line with Sen. Obama’s primary message to the public, which is best said in a quote of his that is most prominent on his official campaign website; “I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington…I’m asking you to believe in yours.” Grunig “suggests that the practitioner balance his/her role as a client advocate with one as social conscience for the larger public.” (p. 121) This is a stance that Sen. Obama can easily integrate into his existing grassroots campaigns. There is already an exchange of information between the publics that support Obama, with a two- way communication forum for suggestions established on his website and blog. This can further be developed in the issues section of his website, where he addresses the issues that interest his publics.His relative inexperience should be communicated to the public as strength, rather than a weakness. As a younger candidate with less experience in politics, he is more in tune with what Americans truly want. He has seen the problems Americans face every day in his advocacy work, and is able to view the issues from the standpoint of the regular citizen, rather than a politicized view with lobbyists and career aspirations guiding his actions. Our plan going forward would be to address each issue he sees as being in need of drastic change, and further define his stance on his website through the issues section.

The negative view on his religious beliefs should be answered by further communicating his positive and well documented idea that all religions should translate their beliefs into a universal set of values that work to better life on a global scale. His speech in June of 2006 is seen as his pronouncement of faith, where he discussed openly about his conversion to faith, beliefs, doubts, and his ideas about incorporating faith back into American life. This is a stance that can be criticized if it is not communicated properly, but I think it has been handled well, and should continue the way it has progressed.

Overall, our plan is simple. To maintain the down-to-earth, personal rapport that Sen. Obama has already established with the public. His value as an advocate for change will be emphasized in his communications, as well as his assertion that Americans will be heard, and can make changes happen, should he become President. We want to establish a strategy that honors his true self, an open and honest agent of change to return the control of American life back to those whom it affects daily. We want to create a campaign that is free of political jargon and really, politics in general. Our focus will be on the people of America, their needs, and we will present Senator Obama as the person who can help get their voices heard in the government for changes that will make a real, quantifiable difference in their lives.