Clout of Content: He Who is Seen, Heard and Understood Wins

By Vincent R. Pozon

A product attains success only when it is turned into a brand. And so it is with the politician: brand awareness, not just recognition, is necessary for sales, or in electoral contests, votes. At the ballot box, voters aren't just choosing a name, they are buying into a perceived platform, personality and vision.

Now consider candidates with extensive media exposure.  The ones ubiquitous on television. 

“Media made them, talked about them, created their… brand image. Such candidates are considered 'media stars' because they were often seen on television, whether in news programs or entertainment shows, well before the campaign period began… Political ads merely served to reinforce previous media exposure, as noted by advertising professor and practitioner Eleanor Agulto, as quoted in the article "Why Pichay still lost." 

Omnipresence – the quality that makes gods of men and women

Aside from being expensive, especially for ordinary citizens, advertising has difficulty in relaying more substantial matters and issues. In content though, a candidate is able to expound and explain their positions on what affects the community in the medium that sells products and ideas well. Without hostile program anchors and TV hosts distorting their statements. 

As evidenced by research findings and electoral outcomes, prior media exposure trumps exposure during the campaign period, regardless of financial resources allocated.

Noli De Castro’s MGB, although originally intended as commercial programming before his political aspirations, exemplifies the power of media presence. It won him vice presidency. Loren Legarda's face and voice was on television every single day of the week for years. She is a senator and a previous contender for vice president.

Eat Bulaga was the wind beneath the wings of Tito Sotto. A more current example would be the Tulfo brothers.

“People might be willing to give (the Tulfos) a chance owing to their prior record of addressing their concerns,” said Pulse Asia president Ronald Holmes.

Simply stated, content provides more than awareness.

Creation of Consent and Consensus

Only with content, only with a substantive story, can one elicit Consent, reach the level of “To die for”,  a description we grant to personalities who capture fervid allegiance from their supporters. Whether that support is wide enough is another matter, that is the function of advertising to address – Consensus. 

We can find the perfect example on the other side of the ocean. Donald Trump's The Apprentice, a reality television program, ran for 15 seasons, other iterations of the franchise for several more. While the passionate supporters of his present candidacy might arguably be less numerous than the commonsensical, they are the kind who would commit their lives, families, and hard-earned savings to the campaign, march for him, and even instigate a civil war for him.

In contrast, nobody would 'die for Biden.' 'I think, right now, the hardest thing is to make young people excited about Joe Biden,' said Megan Eisenstein, the communications director of the College Democrats group at Lawrence University, during the campaign.

It isn't 100% successful of course

There have been well-known personalities who consistently appear near to last in lists of candidates. "Exposure or awareness does not always translate to electoral preference," commented Joey Salgado, journalist, political writer and author. "Since the 90s, leftist personalities have received more than substantial exposure on TV. Pero talo pa rin sa senatorial elections. Same goes with government officials who are media hogs".

The desired image must be carefully crafted to cultivate endearment, the quality that transforms mere awareness into active support at the ballot box, converting "aware" to "voting for". And, again, I point to Trump as Exhibit A – a brand that has successfully captured the essence of authority and influence, however flawed or false.

What to do then

That the presold candidate has an edge is obvious. What is less obvious, judging by how campaigns are run, is what to do about it. The most common error of our politicians is to wait. "Saka na – malayo pa ang eleksyon". They treat the official campaign period as the race itself, when, for their celebrity rivals, the race was run, and largely won, years before.

Start Earlier, and Think Bigger

The answer is to start early, and to be everywhere: on air, online, in the barangay, in the feeds people scroll before they sleep. Not with posters and jingles, which come later, but with content that gives people a reason to watch, listen and return.

That content must carry a story, one that lives in both content and ads. The story is not a slogan to be unveiled on the first day of the campaign; it is a narrative the public has already come to know, so that the ads, when they arrive, feel like the next chapter rather than an introduction.

Consider what we did for JV Ejercito. "The Good One" story moved from campaign to content – videos on YouTube where he would talk about good food and places, and accomplishments – and back to campaign, and the voter never had to be introduced to it twice. Continuity in messaging kept the story thriving when he was not in office.

Content will do the work early, but it flows into the campaign story: the issues raised, the voice, the face, the promise implied should turn, almost without a seam, into the platform and the ask. Done right, the voter will not tell where the content ended and the campaign began.

The story must be stark, even aberrant

A safe, familiar narrative cannot beat a familiar face; the presold candidate already owns familiarity. A contender with less awareness needs a story sharp enough to stop people, strange enough to be remembered, and true enough to be believed. Only that kind of story can turn the unknown into the a 'why not?'.

When you are up against something big. You must think bigger, start sooner, and tell it differently.

Vincent R. Pozon

Koyang has been in advertising for more than half a century, in various agencies, multinational and local. He is known for aberrant strategic successes (e.g., Clusivol’s ‘Bawal Magkasakit’, Promil’s ‘The Gifted Child’, RiteMED’s ‘May RiteMED ba nito?', VP Binay's 'Ganito Kami sa Makati', JV Ejercito's 'The Good One', Akbayan's 'Pag Mahal Mo, Akbayan Mo')). He is chairman of Estima, an ad agency dedicated to helping local industrialists, causes and candidates.

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