In keeping with the theme of this blog, I rarely touch upon speeches or media activity unless it relates to political marketing, advertising, messaging or media as ‘medium’.  

However, we can’t forget, before newspapers, print ads, phones, direct mail, TV spots and viral campaigns all a candidate had was a stump speech.  This was the first and most truest form of political advertising – the speech and the word of mouth which followed, carrying the message of what it meant to others.

Governor Sarah Palin’s speech last night at the Republican National Convention has generated a lot of word of mouth and reminds us all how important a single speech can be to a candidate for president or any other elective office.

This speech had the level of anticipation equal to any major sporting or theatrical event.  The media built a a heaving wave of drama, sex, excitement, criticism and vitriol that drew political junkies and the average citizen into what became the Palin whirlwind.

Palin entered the Xcel Center, and more importantly, the arena of major league professional politics last night and delivered in a very big way.

Here is a list of reasons why Palin was so successful:

• She exuded confidence in a way that was trustful and reliable, not boastful and arrogant.
• She alluded to criticisms of her family and quickly rejected them by displaying her faults for what they are, rather than taking a hyper defensive posture and appearing emotional and weak.
• She did not flub a single line and she hit her humorous lines on exact cue. This was impressive, given the venue and the audience.
• She struck her opponents with a velvet sword.  Not taking the attacks over board or risking the appearance of gratuitous joy in settling a score.
• She tapped into the average voter’s disdain for Washington and belief that people in the ‘real world’ can do it better.
• Most importantly, she spoke from the heart; about herself, her family, her issues, her love of country and most importantly, her belief in John McCain.  This heartfelt appeal went directly past the media and the pundits and landed squarely with the average American voter at home.

The last time I have seen a politician deliver remarks with such grace, raw emotion and magnetic demeanor was the late Ronald Reagan.  I hope I am not speaking to soon when I say, Palin’s way is similar in many ways to the late great President.

Now, for the sake of being accused of sheer partisan adulation, I have said for the record, Barack Obama’s convention speech was also excellent.  He hit his marks, delivered his speech gracefully and attacked McCain with class and discipline, not indignation.  He galvanized the audience and fueled excitement, with the help of the very-well produced intro video, a packed football stadium and Hollywood quality set production.  But when compared to Palin, Obama clearly did not have something she did.

Barack Obama did not connect with people in a way that Palin did.

With this, I am talking about the vast majority or average American voters, not party stalwarts or partisans.

Palin’s awe shucks sense of humor, mothering warmth and tough-as-nails-if-you-cross-me attitude, gave the average person something that has been missing for a long time in politics – heart.  She did it while successfully the loyalists a sense of tremendous assurance and the swing voters a real easy way to support the whole ticket.

Palin delivered the whole package and I think everyone knows it.

Palin will have some missteps I’m sure, but speeches like these transpire from the heart, which rarely goes away.

Highlights from the speech below:

With more evidence to show that gas prices are trickling down throughout the economy, broadcast TV advertising has taken a hit.

With less cars being purchased, car companies have pulled back on some of their advertising. This has generated a net decrease in broadcast TV ad revenue of 4.8%. AdAge’s Brian Steinberg observed last week:

Network TV ad revenue was down 4.8% in the quarter, and local broadcast ad revenue fell 9.1%, while syndicated TV ad revenue was up 9.1%, the TVB said, citing statistics culled from TNS Media Intelligence. For the first half of 2008, network TV ad revenue fell 1.5%, local broadcast ad revenue fell 3.8% and syndicated TV was up 10.2%, the industry organization said. 

The figures come as media buyers have said that third-quarter scatter advertising, or ad time purchased closer to the time it airs, has been sluggish, and also as advertisers have dithered over whether or not to trim some of the dollars they committed to network TV in the upfront. Media buyers say clients and networks have seemed nervous about whether all the money put down by advertisers during upfront negotiations will remain available as marketers try to navigate their way through a tougher-than-expected economic time. 

As the political market heats up, media buyers have seen a sharp increase in third-quarter scatter advertising, airtime that is purchased close to the air date. This type of buying is very typical in the political media purchasing world.

Political media consultants are gearing up to make very large purchases on behalf of candidate committees, IEs, IAs, PACs, Coordinated Expenditures and any other type of committee I may have forgotten.  These buys will sharply change the amount purchased and the inventory available across all platforms – broadcast networks, spot cable, national cable, Direct TV, Dish Network, radio broadcast, and XM/Sirius radio.

As reported last week, the RNC and McCain have almost $96 million on hand. Much of that money needs to be spent before McCain takes public financing after he accepts the nomination at the beginning of next month. Obama and the DNC have yet to publicly report their figures. 

It will be interesting to see the change in ad revenue from this election cycle alone. $1.6 billion was spent on political TV in 2004, far surpassing the $771 million spent in 2000.

The full article is available here.

Below is a new RNC web video as parody of Barack Obama’s visit and speech in Germany.  I must say this is pretty poorly done stuff.  I would expect a lot more from the RNC when it comes to output of media such as this.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am of the view that web videos are best when produced as less-scripted,  more natural, longer form media.  Web videos allow the producer to tell a longer story, get to a punch line in more time and generally carry a more interesting plot line than the basic 30 or 60 second broadcast spot.

However, there is a fine line between funny and sophisticated and not really funny and totally unsophisticated.  I would expect the leadership of the Republican Party would attempt at the former in all instances.  

I ask who does this video truly serve?  McCain’s line of attack on Obama regarding his snub of American troops during his trip abroad was smart and very relevant.  Humorous portrayals of John Kerry’s flip flops in 2004 were playful and funny – tugging at a nagging weakness of his.  The video above – not so much.

I would say the RNC did have some good footage to work with from video taken at this event.  There is something to be said for Che supporters and Marxists who adore Barack Obama – insert liberal loony left.  I simply would have opted to spend more time and money to produce a smarter video. You can either hit the viewer over the head with message or subtly point the viewer in the direction of message – but under the party banner, do it with a little more style.  

I point to the video below, produced by Moveon.org, while I have my criticism there also, it still was very smartly done by individual(s) that sculpted a media piece out of creative sarcasm.

The RNC released a sixty second radio spot today hitting Obama on his lack of support for U.S. troops. The spot will debut tomorrow in Berlin, Wisconsin; Berlin, New Hampshire, and Berlin, Pennsylvania as Obama prepares to deliver a major foreign policy address in Berlin, Germany.

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