Newt & Mitt Get On the Bus for Audience Development

It is the obvious nature of politics that each candidate tries to throw their opponent under the bus.

But that’s not the part of the bus to which arts & cultural marketers should most be paying attention.  We should be asking:  Why does every Presidential candidate have a campaign bus in the first place?

Consider the modern Presidential campaign:  Each candidate possesses substantial financial resources and directs them to massive amounts of TV and radio advertising.  The campaigns (plus their  “un-related” Super-PAC’s) certainly know how – and are unafraid – to deliver powerful & hard-hitting messages.  The daily campaign is an endeavor to produce and control the media’s insatiable appetite for news coverage.  The campaigns churn out targeted direct mail pieces in such numbers that the US Postal Service must surely believe that it would be profitable if Presidential campaigns happened EVERY year.  And, finally, the political campaigns’ growing mastery of social media is nothing short of thrilling to watch and learn from.

The Presidential campaigns are, in fact, the epitome of everything an arts & cultural marketer could aspire to achieve.

So consider this question:  With so much coverage and the ability to reach so many people so efficiently & effectively with powerful mass marketing & PR, why does there still exist such an old-fashioned thing as the campaign bus?

I suspect the answer has to do with the adage offered by legendary Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill that “All Politics Is Local.”  That is, for all the stage managed images and focus-group tested talk, politicians understand that to truly move people there is no substitute for a sense of personal connection.  In a way that not even the most sophisticated marketing strategy can deliver, politicians NEED to be personally seen and heard.  Even though their “stump speech” may be repeated dozens of times to small groups – there is undeniable power in having a well articulated core message and the commitment to deliver it, in person, over and over again.

There’s an obvious lesson here for every arts & cultural administrator.  Get out and speak.  Craft a message that is more insight and inspiration than commercial.  Articulate your own (or your organization’s own) core message that resonates and keep driving it.  Offer yourself to Rotary clubs, civic organizations, religious groups, high schools, professional associations, colleges & universities, community organizations and many more.  All are great places to offer to share news of your organization’s important work.

You are the candidate – and despite all your best marketing efforts, there is just no substitute for your own personal, unrelenting and authentic engagement.

And one more thing – wouldn’t it be a fascinating audience development initiative to actually CREATE a collaborative Arts & Culture Campaign Bus – something to literally drive to soccer fields, the beach, the Costco parking lot, parks, high-school football games and everywhere else – from which a campaign team of diverse, enthusiastic volunteers could emerge to encourage people to participate in ALL of their community’s arts & cultural activities.

Now that’s a bus on which I’d like to hitch a ride!