G20 – Spin and social media

The big day has arrived. Will the centre right French - German axis or the centre left UK – US one win out today?

Watched Newsnight last night and struggled to see where the big split was. Everyone wants more regulation. The Japanese, Indonesian and Mexicans also agreed there was an urgent need for a stimulus packet.

As as good Irishman it is of course my duty to disagree with the British. What good French or German premier would not be well jealous to see President Obama roll up the unpopular neighbour’s drive transforming Mr no mates into the man of the moment with a sprinkle of star dust.

The commentators have lapped it up. Take Jonathan Freeland in the Guardian this morning:

Obama remains the global superstar with a fresh mandate, Brown the ailing prime minister with anemic poll numbers whose last victory in a competitive election was for his Kirkcaldy seat.

And yet, that’s not quite how it played out. Brown was relaxed and fluent at the podium, while it was Obama who gave the more faltering, sometimes long-winded performance. Obama appeared to be stumped twice, first by a question from the BBC’s Nick Robinson – which invited the president to wonder why France and Germany blame the US for the recession – and next by a deceptively simple inquiry from a member of the travelling press corps: does the president advise ordinary Americans to spend or save? One brought audible hesitation; the other a bit of a ramble as Obama visibly tried to work out what to say.

Brown, by contrast, was all confidence. On the spend or save question, he delivered a short, clear answer: it was governments’ job to take the right steps so that people could confidently make whatever decision was best for them. True, Brown had had time to think about it, but it was the answer Obama had been groping for.

What explains the difference? One superficial suggestion: Obama sounded as though he had a cold, his voice foggier and less clear than usual. He has reportedly been feeling the physical strain of the job. Or it might simply have been a touch of jet lag. But – a couple of charming asides about Brown’s children’s interest in dinosaurs and about the Queen apart – he was not at his best.

As for Brown, the explanation is probably fairly simple. This was the moment he had been waiting for, at least since Obama’s election last November. He had craved this chance, to stand alongside the world’s most popular leader; indeed, his strategy for re-election appears to be all but built on it. So, when Obama praised Brown’s “extraordinary initiative and leadership” and then said the world owed him “an extraordinary debt of gratitude”, the PM was a picture of delight. Later, just watching Obama speak, apparently in no hurry for the press conference ever to end, Brown leaned on his lectern wearing an expression that he may never before have revealed in public: simple contentment.

The message of the briefing was that the splits with France and Germany are greatly exaggerated – that all nations are doing their best to stimulate their economies. But that’s not the message Brown most wanted to convey today. That was simpler: that he is the man to steer Britain through the storm – and he has Barack Obama at his side to prove it.

Michelle is in London but Carla is nowhere to be seen. Now that would be a picture to keep the front pages happy for a month.

Meantime if you are into these things like me you can follow every twist and turn at the Summit today on Twitter.

O’Bama talks to Ireland

An Uachtarian, Barack Obama, addresses the Irish gathered in the White House and the millions all around the world.

“Not all American’s are Irish but all American’s support those who stand on the side of peace”

Obama does Beyonce

…. well not literally.

Thanks to Rakhee for the link.

From Bloody Sunday to Inauguration Day

For many the long walk to Barack Obama’s inauguration as the 44th President of the United States on Tuesday started on the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama forty four years ago. In fact the man himself claimed that direct link in March 2007 (video below).

When the young black men and women who had taken to the pathways of the deep south to claim voting rights reached the bridge over the Alabama river on the 7th of March 1965 they were met by State Troupers and a rabble of thugs. The beatings and abuse were captured on TV and the term ‘Bloody Sunday’ was born.

On Tuesday morning those who are still alive from that march will gather on the same bridge to mark the inauguration and pray for the new President. They changed the course of American politics by taking a peaceful and dignified stand. They must be hoping, as we all are, that the man who owes his right to vote to the septuagenarians who stood so proudly in the deep south will bring a new wave of change.

We of course had our own Bloody Sunday. It led to great change but also to inexcusable hatred and the unforgivable acts of the modern republican movement. Perhaps today is as good a time as any to reflect on the futility of violence and celebrate the achievements of peaceful and dignified protect, because change comes through the pens of legislators and the power of protest not down the barrel of a gun.

We shall overcome!

Amnesty’s Obama checklist and Campbell’s creative future

Amnesty International has launched a viral video to coincide with President Elect Obama’s inauguration next week. The narrator is Captain Jean Luke Picard himself, Patrick Stewart. I’ll let it speak for itself.

On another matter entirely Arts and Culture Minister, Gregory Campbell, not a man known to be a fan of Amnesty was celebrating the sort of creativity behind the video above last night. Speaking at the Arts & Business Awards the Minister reminded the world that a £5million Creative Industries Innovation Fund has been launched:

 “Last year I announced the fund to promote business enterprises in the creative sector. The fund needs to be used to support creative entrepreneurs with business planning, marketing, intellectual property issues and start-up finance to nurture long term creativity and innovation as an investment for our economy.

“The establishment of this fund shows that the Executive recognises the importance that creativity and innovation play in the future of Northern Ireland in 2009’s European Year of Creativity and Innovation and beyond.”

Here, here say us.

Thing about creative industries and creative cities is that they invariably become centres of liberal thought. I wonder if this is Mr Campbell’s secret plan for NI?

Obama thanks an Advocate

I write about advocacy and advocates every day of the week, then yesterday I got an email from Peter Coll, a good friend of mine, about a friend and mentor of his in the US.

The man in question is one Kevin Delaney who has already manged to fit few historic moments into his life. Kevin is a Columbia University Journalism Grad. He was a US Navy Officer during Korean War, South East Asia Director of US Peace Corps during the Kennedy era and thereafter Bureau Chief ABC News in Saigon. He was evacuated from US Embassy there on the last day of the Fall of Saigon. He has worked as a media consultant and then a few months ago Obama had a private meeting with Kevin, his wife Joan and other people who had set up websites encouraging him to run. Peter tells me Kevin’s website, draftBarackin2008.com, ended up with about 100,000 supporters which Obama was then able to tap into!

Here is the note Peter received from Kevin the other day:

Subject: Brief Encounters of a Memorable Nature

Dear Friends, I was doing some volunteer phone banking this afternoon at the presidential inaugural committee when we were suddenly told that Barack Obama was in the building and we should gather in the hallways. We more or less dashed to the end of the hall and found a sea of faces.  I had no idea that many people worked there. Since all the wall space was taken we continued for what seemed like the length of a football field and turned the corner to line up in a new hallway. Needless to say the crowd was quite excited.  After 15 minutes, Obama was seen turning into our hallway while shaking hand after hand.

As Barack got up to me, I said,  as he shook my hand,  “Senator, we met last March. We had one of the websites urging you to run for president.” He paused briefly, thinking and then said, ” Yes, I remember.”  then he walked a few feet beyond me, turned toward me, pointed. and said in a loud voice, “This is one of the guys that got me to run!” With that he continued to handshake his way down the hall.

A young Chinese woman who was standing next to me asked what that was about. I explained about our website and how we turned over the materials to Obama’s campaign after he announced and were then asked to meet with him so he could thank us — and that ten of us — including my wife –  had a 45 minute session with him.  She said, “I went to your website, and wasn’t it something like. “draftBarack in2008.com.?” Spot on.  I was amazed.

The Jan. 20 swearing-in and other Inaugural events are less than two weeks away, but I don’t think it gets any better for me.

Now that’s advocacy!

Obama hangs with the super-heroes

On January 14th Barack Obama will appear in a world wide comic strip for the first time in presidential history. CNN has the story?

All about advocacy

Advocacy networks are alive and well as the new American President-Elect gets close to Inauguration day.  

I just visited www.FixThisBarack.com and www.WhiteHouse2.org. These are not Obama-sponsored sites but sites where crowd sourcing thrive. At WhiteHouse2.org, you can endorse or oppose a suggestion for change. Very similar to our thinking about advocating or badvocating for a cause, government policy or legislation.  Enthusiasts, fans and other advocates can also visit www.change.gov which is an Obama-endorsed site and join a discussion on policy direction. 

Today when I visited the site, nearly 500 comments were in response to “What social causes and service organizations are you a part of that make a difference in your community?” It is extraordinary to witness participatory government and advocacy at its best.  Two people discussed a group called Invisible Children that provides aid for children in Africa who are taken by soldiers and living in this war-torn area. One explained the mission and another described the Facebook page on the charity. It was heartwrenching when I visited the site but a good example of how advocacy can spread from visit to visit.

It will be interesting to see how the political sites progress as Obama’s first 100 days (in office) ends and politics-as-usual heats up. Will people still believe that someone is listening?

The above is complements of Weber Shandwick’s reputation guru, Leslie Gaines-Ross who works out of New York.

The story of Obama’s logo

Those of you interested in design, marketing, communications or politics will find the article below fascinating. It’s the story of Obama’s ‘O’ and appeared last week on the New York Times Campaignstops blog.

At the end of 2006, Mode, a motion design studio in Chicago, approached Sol Sender, a graphic designer, to create a logo for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. The resulting “O” became one of the most recognizable political logos in recent history. I spoke with Mr. Sender a few days after the election to discuss the evolution of his design.

Steven Heller: How did you get the job of designing the Obama logo?

Sol Sender: We got the job through Mode. Steve Juras, a classmate of mine from graduate school is the creative director there. They have a long-standing relationship with AKP&D Message and Media, a campaign consulting firm led by David Axelrod and David Plouffe among others.

Q: Have you done other political logos in the past?

A: No, we had not.

Q: I have to ask, since many agencies that do political campaigns are simply “doing a job,” did you have strong feelings one way or the other for the Obama candidacy?

A: We were excited to work on the logo and energized by the prospect of Mr. Obama’s campaign. However, we didn’t pursue or develop the work because we were motivated exclusively by ideology. It was an opportunity to do breakthrough work at the right time in what’s become a predictable graphic landscape.

Q: How many iterations did you go through before deciding on this “O”? Was it your first idea?

A: We actually presented seven or eight options in the first round, and the one that was ultimately chosen was among these. In terms of our internal process, though, I believe the logo — as we now know it — came out of a second round of design explorations. At any rate, it happened quite quickly, all things considered. The entire undertaking took less than two weeks.

Q: How did David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s chief strategist, respond to your initial presentation?

A: Mode handled that. My sense was that there was a lot of enthusiasm about the options we developed. I was part of a presentation with Mode and Mr. Axelrod to evaluate the final two or three options. There was a general sense that they were all good, but we felt strongly that the chosen logo was the most powerful one.

Q: Did Barack Obama have any input into the symbol at all?

A: None that was directly communicated to us. I believe he looked at the final two or three options, but I wouldn’t be able to accurately portray his reaction.

Q: What were you thinking when you conceived this idea?

A: When we received the assignment, we immediately read both of Senator Obama’s books. We were struck by the ideas of hope, change and a new perspective on red and blue (not red and blue states, but one country). There was also a strong sense, from the start, that his campaign represented something entirely new in American politics — “a new day,” so to speak.

Q: Were you responsible or cognizant of how many variations and applications were possible when you first introduced the “O”?

A: Honestly, we initially saw the mark through the lens of our work on more traditional consumer or corporate identity systems, and were concerned about it being misused. In retrospect, I think that was a narrow viewpoint. But this anxiety came before the campaign built such a strong internal design team.

Various vendors needed to reproduce the mark on signs, banners, and they needed some rules. So our initial concern was compliance and consistency. Having said that, we did think it was a strong mark — strong marks have the potential for broad successful application and viral growth — and we were cognizant of its possibilities. We saw (and visualized as part of the creative process) buttons, billboards, ads, Web banners, T-shirts and hats. We did not foresee the scope of the variations and the personal “ownership” that emerged, though.

We handed the logo and design assets off to the campaign in the summer of 2007. From that point on, everything that you’ve seen was done by the campaign, including the “demographic” variations of the logo. They also evolved the typography to uppercase, incorporated Joe Biden’s name and added a white line around the mark.

Q: Did you have any qualms about this symbol? Did you ever think it was too “branded” and “slick”?

A: We didn’t, though there were certainly instances where we sensed a need to be careful about its application. We never saw the candidate as being “branded,” in the sense of having an identity superficially imposed on the campaign. The identity was for the campaign, not just for the candidate. And to the degree that the campaign spoke to millions of people, it may have become a symbol for something broader — some have termed it a movement, a symbol of hope.

Q: Do you think the “O” had any major contribution in this outcome?

A: The design development was singularly inspired by the candidate’s message. Like any mark, the meaning and impact really come from what people bring to it.

Q: Now that Mr. Obama is President-elect Obama, do you see the “O” as having another or extended life?

A: Well, the “O” was the identity for the Obama ’08 campaign and the campaign is over. That doesn’t mean that the mark will be forgotten; I think the memorabilia from this campaign will have a long shelf life and will stand as a visible symbol of pride for people who supported the candidate and for those who see it as a representation of a watershed moment for our country. As far as having another life, I can’t say. Perhaps the 2012 campaign will hark back to it in some way.

Hillary next Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton will be named the next US Secretary of State after the Thanksgiving Holiday this weekend. So the New York Times says today.

This is very good news for Ireland and should challenge Brian Feeney and other commentators who have been less then supportive of President Elect Obama’s commitment to this island.

For an insight into why Obama would appoint the woman who fought him so hard read Karen Tumulty in TIME this week.

As he wrapped up his second week as President-elect, it was clear that Obama was taking the long view in both diplomacy and politics. How else to explain the fact that he had all but offered the most prestigious job in his Cabinet to a woman whose foreign policy experience he once dismissed as consisting of having tea with ambassadors? Or that Clinton might accept an offer from a man whose national-security credentials, she once said, began and ended with “a speech he made in 2002″? Nowhere did Obama and Clinton attack each other more brutally last spring than on the question of who was best equipped to handle international relations in a dangerous world. That they could be on the brink of becoming partners in that endeavor is the most remarkable evidence yet that Obama is serious about his declared intention to follow another Illinois President’s model in assembling a “team of rivals” to run his government, in what could be a sharp contrast with the past 40 years of American Presidents. “I’ve been spending a lot of time reading Lincoln,” Obama told Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes. “There is a wisdom there and a humility about his approach to government, even before he was President, that I just find very helpful.”

Obama’s ambition is clearly to assemble a ‘team of rivals’ as Lincoln so famously did.

God speed Mr President elect.