Marking A Campaign Moment

Anyone who has ever worked on a campaign has at least one experience during the race that they consider the "most memorable moment." No, I'm not talking about election night or debate wins, though I have fond memories of those too. This time, I'm talking about something much more personal.

You'll probably never read about it in any newspaper, but during the 2006 gubernatorial race in Nevada, my most memorable moment will be standing in the hospital where my wife had just given birth to our daughter, three months early. Within an hour after the delivery, I received a call from State Sen. Bob Beers, Republican candidate for governor, after he'd received a head's up from campaign manager Andy Matthews about the unexpected news. I had called Andy a few hours prior to our daughter's birth, before we even knew how the events would unfold, to tell him that I may be out of pocket for an unknown amount of time. He, in turn, touched base with Bob Beers, who was touring rural Nevada.

Bob: Rich Becker? Bob Beers.
Rich: Hi, Bob.
Bob: How's Kim?
Rich: I'm with her now; she's doing fine. She just came in and is recovering from surgery.
Bob: Your son?
Rich: He's good. He knows what is going on … he's at his grandparents right now.
Bob: And the baby?
Rich: A girl. Two pounds. 13 1/2 inches.
Bob: Is she going to be okay?
Rich: She came out crying. That has to be a good sign. She's in the NICU right now. We're confident everything will be okay.
Bob: Good. Good. Andy just called me a few minutes ago. I had to hear for myself. What's her name?
Rich: Well, we considered Bobweena but decided on Jenna Elizabeth instead.
Bob: (laughs) Your daughter will no doubt thank you for that decision. So what happened?

After explaining the circumstances leading up to the early arrival, we chatted briefly about the gravity of the situation. I remember offering up some last minute campaign notes that I hadn't had time to share with Andy, but he said not to think twice about it. There are more important things right now, he said.

Bob: I hope you know you can call anytime if you need anything. Sarah and I will be happy to help.
Rich: I know that, Bob. You always have.
Bob: Is there some way we can help. Is there anything we can do for you?
Rich: Yeah, you can win this thing.
Bob: (laughs) You know I intend to. Give my best to Kim. You take care of her and your baby. We'll be praying for her.
Rich: Thanks, Bob. I'll call you in a couple of days when things settle down.
Bob: Sounds good. Take care, Rich.

As of today, the race remains a dead heat with a mere two points separating Bob and his opponent. It's a huge jump from the polls conducted earlier this year, which originally gave Bob's opponent a 40-point lead. Sure, anything can happen come election night and some people have already said that Bob's win will be a miracle. Yeah, I know something about those. For the last seven weeks, I've seen a miracle in the corner of NICU every day.

Racing With A Baby In NICU

Copywrite, Ink. should be rolling out a new Website, celebrating our 15th anniversary this month. But we're not. We've put our plans for promotion on hold for two very good reasons. Sometimes priorities change and we have time to do it right.

The first is a new addition to my family. Jenna was born three months early in June, weighing a mere two pounds and measuring 13 1/2 inches, which is about the size of a water bottle. She's doing better today, fighting off new challenges like infections and development concerns. It's okay. We have a lot of faith to bring her home, spurred on by the enthusiasm of our son Griffin. My wife and business partner at Copywrite, Ink. has been back in the office, full time, for several weeks. For both of us, work has become a tremendous benefit in between hospital visits.

The second, though overshadowed by the first, is our involvement in our state's race for governor. Since January, we have had the distinct pleasure of working on our fifth campaign with the always compassionate State Sen. Bob Beers. I say compassionate because Bob Beers might be an accountant, but he has proven once again that he puts people first. Almost every conversation begins not with barking campaign orders, but with "how is your daughter today." I neither solicit it nor expect it. And I only share this bit of trivia as an observation of his character.

For anyone tracking the race, Beers has doubled in the polls while his primary opponent has plummeted 20 points despite spending almost $2 million. His opponent's weakness, not surprisingly, is communication. Anyone interested can easily read the numerous news commentaries on why his opponent, once the frontrunner, has lost so much ground. Or, you can visit Bob Beers for Nevada for examples of better strategic communication at work for the Beers campaign.

In the weeks ahead, I'll certainly offer up where Beers' opponent went wrong in the primary, but I'm happy to allow him to make the same mistakes over and over again. Some of them, but not all of them, were cited in an Associated Press column by Kathleen Hennessey.

What I can share now, however, is that I'm a bit disappointed in the opponent's campaign advisor. Unlike the campaign advisor I went head to head with in Beers' successful state senate race (where we were outspent almost 10 to 1 but still won handily), I've always had a certain amount of admiration for the one our Beers team is facing today. It saddens me to see him make such surprising slips and deliver what appears to be extremely poor strategic positioning. Even on the off chance they pull it out in the end, which I've recently had some indications will not happen, this race will certainly be his worst case study.

Giving credit where credit is due: I'm not the only one in a senior advisory position like I was in the state senate race. Advisor Todd Schnick at The Strategum Group and campaign manager Andy Matthews have done an amazing job. I'm happy to be working with them, especially given those occasions when my schedule changes up for hospital visits, which brings me full circle to the point I wanted to make with this post.

Lately, my wife and I have often been asked "How do you do it? How can you have a baby in the hospital, maintain your business, meet non-profit obligations, and work on a campaign?"

I won't lie and say it's easy, because it's not always easy. But what I will say for anyone facing a personal (or even professional crisis), it always pays to count your blessings and not your problems. We have a daughter who has survived some pretty serious stuff and will be home hopefully sooner than later, clients who have faith we will meet deadlines and still produce top quality work, non-profit community and professional colleagues who frequently offer support, and a candidate who is not only compassionate, but also the only candidate who can ensure our children have the same promising future that my wife and I have been afforded here in Nevada.

The way I see it, our son and daughter, especially after everything she has gone through, deserve the best education, better opportunities, and future in our state without the hinderance of big government like the one the primary opponent is promoting. I know Bob Beers can deliver, which is precisely why I elected to forgo self-promotion plans to put a few more hours in on the campaign.

Creating A Class For Everyone

One might think it would be easy, but they'd be wrong. Creating a skills-oriented university class from scratch can be a challenging exercise, maybe more so than applying communication practices on a daily basis and certainly more so than developing a program or workshop for working communication professionals.

The program, which I was recently asked to develop for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), is a skills-oriented class with an emphasis on improving written communication for writers, office managers, business professionals, and anyone who wants to enhance the clarity, consistency, and usage of personal or business correspondence. In sum, it's a class on how to be a better editor.

The most immediate challenge is in catering to a broad audience. Editing classes tend to attract a diverse group, ranging from people interested in self-editing manuscripts and essays to office managers and working communication professionals. One of the objectives in developing the class is to teach enough basic information to benefit everyone without spending too much time on subject matter that a portion of the participants already know. How much of a 4-hour class really needs to focus on basic English, defining nouns, pronouns, etc.? Do I really want to diagram sentences? Will fiction writers balk at AP Style?

The second challenge is in self-evaluation, an attempt to determine just what personal experience has made matter of fact to me but what might not be so matter of fact to other people. Sometimes it is challenging to educate people on the merits of AP Style, especially simple rules such as when to capitalize the title of the position and when not to. It's something I've learned to do without thinking much about the reasoning behind the rule.

In the end, with some input from Michelle Baker at UNLV Educational Outreach, I think we have the makings of a solid half-day fall program that focuses on editing essentials such as language skills, mechanics of style, and the importance of correct spelling and punctuation. Of course, the true measure of success will be derived, in part, from student evaluations.

Meeting Matsuri Objectives

Just a few weeks before Matsuri, the number one show in Japan, would perform a limited engagement at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, we received a call from veteran show promoter and marketing director Jim Hoke. He needed public relations support and needed it fast.

Given the timing of the show, less than four weeks away, we quickly established two primary objectives that would drive Matsuri's media relations efforts: to create a consistent message that maximized earned media exposure in the local and national market (in order to reinforce the caliber of the show and increase ticket sales). And, to generate enough excitement about the show that a comparable or better venue would offer it an indefinite or long-term home in Las Vegas at the discretion of the producers.

To accomplish these objectives, we began by evaluating all existing communication material and then developed backgrounders, show descriptions, and a news release for the show's opening, knowing that some publications require up to four weeks prior to press time. The turn time was less than 48 hours.

After the initial rush, we shifted gears to build a low-cost, but effective media kit that included: a cast listing, fact sheet, show listing, photo call sheet, and supporting releases. One focused on two world cup winners in the show; another featured its uniqueness as the the first musical production to have ever originated in Japan.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, we spend ample time considering the contrast between one product and another. Let's face it. There are hundreds of shows in Las Vegas so patrons needed a good reason to go to this one, an afternoon show with ticket prices starting at around $60.

Overall, we concluded that the combination of extreme sports and the glimpse into Japanese culture was the best draw for American audiences. (The opposite holds true in Japan; they prefer American undertones). The results speak for themselves. The show quickly dominated the media, including Google searches, and became the city's best attended afternoon production, with an overall attendance average that outpaced any expectations.

While I won't share the entire media strategy, I will say that our solution proved two things: you don't need a huge budget or several months to develop an effective communication/media relations plan. At the end of the day, if you have a good product, all you really need is a solid message, sound strategy, and some media savvy.

In fact, the communication strategy we implemented achieved another goal. Matsuri will be back in Las Vegas this fall. It seems one major property has already anted up at least one offer.

We hope the fine folks at Matsuri take it. Our company enjoyed working with a Japanese-owned company. While it's not our first time (we've also worked with companies like Konami), it's always a good time.

Forecasting The Future

rPerhaps it is because I tuned into the show American Inventor, but I find myself wondering if business owners are forgetting that focus groups and customer surveys, while helpful, are not meant to be mini-product development sessions. Watching this show, you might think otherwise as the contestants, ordinary people with good ideas, strain under the advice of focus groups that, in some cases, aren't even representative of the right target audience.

Case in point: one inventor was shocked to hear that a car seat capable of saving a child's life was not aesthetically pleasing enough to purchase. While the inventor couldn't believe his ears, I couldn't believe my eyes. This focus group participant was obviously single and without kids. Of course, from there, the product became fair game and every participant suddenly had two cents despite a lack of common sense.

Come on. Surely if you asked a focus group, let's say, whether they would buy water in a glass bottle for 4 times the amount of other bottled water, they would have laughed in your face. Yet, Perrier stands up as one of the best marketing success stories of all times.

So why does this happen? Simple. Evidence has always suggested that focus group participants lie. As Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman wrote in his book "How Customers Think:" The correlation between stated intent and actual behavior is usually low and negative. In fact, 80 percent of new products or services fail within six months when they've been vetted through focus groups. Hollywood films and TV pilots--virtually all of which are screened by focus groups--routinely fail in the marketplace.

First of all, they're usually volunteers, people predisposed to participate (not so ordinary consumers). Second, in a focus group setting, they are influenced by others around them. It only takes one seemingly confident person to sway the group. Third, they are often motivated to participate for reasons other than offering 'honest' opinions. Fourth, they are usually asked to make snap judgments. And fifth, most focus groups are not subjected to months of behavior-changing communication.

Right. Perrier was successful not because it had the best water, but because it entered the market at a time when consumers were status conscious and said: hey, this water is for people with status, thus the French name. Cool, eh? Cool enough that as the consumers changed their behavior (largely because of other great marketing strategies), Perrier can now be purchased in a plastic water bottle.

Don't get me wrong. Focus groups can be a useful tool. But, at the end of the day, they are only one tool among many. Not to mention, once all the data is gathered, assuming there was no bias to begin with, it needs to be sorted, qualified, and applied properly.

Polls are no different. As Joe Klein wrote for Time magazine a couple of years ago: The vast majority of Americans--as many as 90 percent, pollsters told him privately--refuse to answer questions when the wizard calls (although the number is marginally better this hot election year); people who use cell phones exclusively, mostly younger voters, are unreachable; and wizards frequently 'correct' for these things, by "weighting" their polls.

Wow! Does that mean polling is less scientific and more speculative than ever? Maybe a poll will would provide the answer. And if not, a focus group could do the trick. Ahem.

Seeing A Successful Future

We recently provided public relations support and writing services for a two-month run of Matsuri, which is also the number one production show in Japan.

The show, which featured world-ranked professional athletes and Olympic medalists, combined athletics, extreme sports, dance, and Japanese tradition. While in Las Vegas, it scored a long list of positive local and national reviews. Not bad, considering we never had an opportunity to see the show prior to the public relations launch.

Sometimes our job is like that. In a city like Las Vegas, the vision of what's to come is all you can hope to communicate. We've worked on countless communication projects for shows, events, companies, and others over the years, ranging from The Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain to New York - New York Hotel & Casino to Konami's entrance in the United States.

Next up is something I'm really looking forward to: The inaugural Concours d'Elegance Las Vegas.

Concours d’Elegance Las Vegas, an upscale auto show for legacy and select classic automobiles, will be held in Las Vegas, Oct. 20-22. It's already creating a preliminary buzz in the auto world after recently securing George Barris as honorary chairman. Barris, if you don't know, is the best-known designer of custom cars in the world.

In addition to creating thousands of custom cars, Barris’ work has appeared in custom magazines, books, television programs, and motion pictures since the 1950's. Much of his work has become an integral part of American culture, including the original Batmobile and latest James Bond car. Recently, he appeared on ABC TV's popular show ''Extreme Makeover.''

Beyond the Barris connection, we've been thrilled to work with Concours development veteran Elaine Sherer and retired Saatchi & Saatchi designer Don Lais. Both are great to work with -- Elaine because she immediately saw the value of implementing our core message strategy and Don because he has an uncanny ability to grasp a visual concept and bring it to reality.

The end result is an event that is already shaping up to be a huge success with more than 100 mint condition legacy automobiles featured, along with a special venue for classic cars, an automotive art show, live music, and gourmet food vendors. Ultimately, Las Vegas will become the most visiable and successful Concours location in the world with more accommodations, world class dining, fashion, golf, and entertainment than any previous Concours venue.

If you'd like to see the communication and news of this event unfold, visit www.lasvegasconcours.com . Right now there is a place holder for the Website, but we're expecting Don to resolve a nav bar issue soon so the rest of the site and event information will follow. In short, if you love automobiles, we'll be seeing you in Las Vegas this October.