Not that it's too surprising, but Jim Watson is now the new mayor of Ottawa. What is interesting about Jim from a PR perspective is that from everything I saw he ran a very clean, positive campaign.
His Web site had no mention of any of the flaws associated with his electoral competition and was 100 per cent focused on why he was the best candidate.
His messaging was positive and focused on solutions as opposed to simply making people feel scared about voting for one of the other candidates.
His demeanor during interviews is very laid back, almost self-effacing. Even after winning the race, as you can see in the video below, he continues to carry himself with a very humble demeanor.
In essence he comes across as a nice, trust-worthy guy who isn't about how great he is, but rather about how he can be of service to those in Ottawa.
While there are obviously a wide array of variables behind why Watson won, what his campaigned showed was that the public is receptive to positive messaging - that trust and honesty can trump fear and mud-slinging; that realism (while lacking glamor) can trump ostentatiousness.
Now I'm not a political guru by any means, but I think we're seeing a maturation in how the public absorbs and analyzes information. I think a lot of it has to do with 10-years of Karl Rove style messaging (fear and mud-slinging), the impending results of voting based on emotion over reason, and the worst recession since the great depression - basically people are no longer reacting the way they use to in response to fear-based or over-zealous messaging.
What people seem to react to now is honesty and messaging that doesn't seek to incite emotion or create confusion, but rather messaging that simply gets right to the heart of the matter (even if it's not what people emotionally want to hear).
If I'm correct in this, then that is great news for PR folks whose natural predisposition is not to 'spin' or 'manipulate' but rather to communicate information in as accurate a manner as possible.
Kudos to Watson on winning the mayoral race - it looks like nice guys sometimes finish first.
His Web site had no mention of any of the flaws associated with his electoral competition and was 100 per cent focused on why he was the best candidate.
His messaging was positive and focused on solutions as opposed to simply making people feel scared about voting for one of the other candidates.
His demeanor during interviews is very laid back, almost self-effacing. Even after winning the race, as you can see in the video below, he continues to carry himself with a very humble demeanor.
In essence he comes across as a nice, trust-worthy guy who isn't about how great he is, but rather about how he can be of service to those in Ottawa.
While there are obviously a wide array of variables behind why Watson won, what his campaigned showed was that the public is receptive to positive messaging - that trust and honesty can trump fear and mud-slinging; that realism (while lacking glamor) can trump ostentatiousness.
Now I'm not a political guru by any means, but I think we're seeing a maturation in how the public absorbs and analyzes information. I think a lot of it has to do with 10-years of Karl Rove style messaging (fear and mud-slinging), the impending results of voting based on emotion over reason, and the worst recession since the great depression - basically people are no longer reacting the way they use to in response to fear-based or over-zealous messaging.
What people seem to react to now is honesty and messaging that doesn't seek to incite emotion or create confusion, but rather messaging that simply gets right to the heart of the matter (even if it's not what people emotionally want to hear).
If I'm correct in this, then that is great news for PR folks whose natural predisposition is not to 'spin' or 'manipulate' but rather to communicate information in as accurate a manner as possible.
Kudos to Watson on winning the mayoral race - it looks like nice guys sometimes finish first.
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