Who has the royal jelly?

Welcome back...
I've taken a bit of time off from the blog - Laura and I have been busy traveling to places like Niagara Falls, Edmonton, New York, Boston and Toronto.  Although it wasn't hard work all the time. In Boston, Laura and I attended a Kennedy School reunion weekend which included the usual excellent lectures on the state of the world, education, technology, politics, the media, among other stimulating subjects.
Counterfeit, Fraud and the Media
No, that's not my analysis of 'the fourth estate'....While in Niagara Falls, Laura and I conducted a media seminar for 200 participants at the 'Counterfeit and Fraud Workshop' representing police, banks, major retailers and governments. The ability to deal effectively with the media is critically important for all organizations, but particularly so when handling such high profile issues. Doing the seminar while overlooking Niagara Falls proved to be quite a challenge as we had to compete with the spectacular view!
Congratulations to our Contest Winners

Congratulations to the two winners of our pocket tips contest from my last blog posting - Manon Lechasseur Henderson from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (who selected our 2012 edition of 'Overcoming Panic and Fear: Risk and Crisis Communications' pocket tips book), and Tim Fletcher of Fletcher Consulting (who chose the 'Encountering the Media' book in our series of [2012-13 pocket tips books]
In this edition...
The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Although not known to be a monarchist, I have long been an admirer of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her years of service. The word 'steadfast' is an old-fashioned word, no doubt, but to me it sums up the sheer determination and sense of service that emanates from her entire being. Having suffered tragedies and heartache on the home front - beginning with the sudden death of her father - and through the many   challenges during the 'soap opera years' of the Royal family - she has long established herself as a truly global figure who can say more with a look than most politicians with a speech. She certainly has the 'royal jelly'. So here's to you, your Majesty, for a job superbly well done!
Romney vs. Obama
With Mitt Romney having finally clinched the nomination, he seems to have found his footing as he turns his attention to his battle with President Obama. He seems much more focused on the economy - even managing the temporary derailment of Donald Trump's ongoing hallucinations over Obama's birth certificate on the very day of his endorsement. According to the polls, they are neck-and-neck, and with five months to go, each will have to define the winning ballot question and marshall their entire campaign focused on it. Over 150 days in which every day for both lies the potential 'dawn of a new error'!
Do the Liberals in Canada Have a Future?
As interim Liberal leader Bob Rae is about to throw his hat in the ring for the leadership of the Liberals (after having sworn he wouldn't), is it a race worth running and, if so, is there any future in it?
Conventional wisdom says 'no, there is no future' - that Canada is slowly polarizing into the NDP on the left vs. the Conservatives on the right. Although there is a better-than-even chance of that occurring, however, I would offer a different perspective.
Four Keys to a Liberal Resurrection
1. It's the economy, stupid. The Liberals used to be the party that took a huge deficit and turned it into 9 or 10 years of surplus before handing the keys over to Stephen Harper and the Conservatives. Funny thing, though, no one thinks of Liberals as fiscally conservative! One of the keys to the Liberal success is that they were able to convince the voters in the 1993 election that they had a plan to balance the budget and that they were more fiscally conservative than the (then) Progressive Conservatives under Kim Campbell. Every Liberal government that has succeeded in modern times at the federal or provincial level has been able to position themselves as sensible or small 'c' conservatives fiscally.
2. Re-position themselves on the political landscape. The Liberals need to stop thinking of themselves as 'NDP lite' and start thinking of themselves as 'Conservative lite'. Meaning they have to position themselves as sensible on law and order, credible on the military, reasonable on the environment and energy files, solid on the economy and balanced on the international front. NDP leader Tom Mulcair has carved out a very strong - some say strident - position on the oil sands and pitted himself against Western Premiers with his pronouncements on the 'Dutch Disease' of the petro-dollar and what it has done to Canada's manufacturing sector. It's long on theory and short on political smarts, but it will secure his base in Quebec, no doubt. Ontario? That remains to be seen.
3. Unite the party and build on their strengths. The Liberals used to be known as the 'natural governing party' but one would not know that given their spectacular fall from grace under Paul Martin, Stephane Dion and then Michael Ignatieff. It may have been the pressures from within as each leader had trouble healing the internal rifts. Nevertheless, the new leader has to truly speak for the entire party. It was the Tories who had been known for eating their young, and they realized that the public intuitively knows that if you can't run your own party, they won't trust you with the country. Gradually, the Liberals seemed to lose sight of their core strengths and began to lunge for complicated policy solutions that they couldn't explain, let alone sell. [Anyone remember Stephane Dion's 'Green Shift'? I thought not.]

4. Choose the right leader with the right team, with the right message. Should the leader be Bob Rae? He has formidable skills as a communicator and the media love him. Also, he doesn't seem to need daily coaching on what to say and how to say it. Nevertheless he has baggage as the former NDP Premier in the early 90s whose handling of the recession led to a loss of voter confidence after one term. Does the public forgive and forget? Actually, yes they do.
Given the numerous ups and downs of Jean Chretien's career before finally winning the Liberal leadership in 1990, the electorate rewarded him with three elections, so anything is possible. Former astronaut Marc Garneau? A very distinguished career with a strong personal narrative, but he has failed thus far to capture the attention and imagination of the public. Justin Trudeau? If he could lead as well as he can box, if he can translate his charisma into a sense of leadership, then he might be able to do it. However, it seems clear he needs years of experience before he could lead the country. David McGuinty? Given his brother Dalton's rocky stewardship of the Ontario economy, that would work against his chances. So who is left? It gets pretty thin, pretty quickly. Whoever wins it, he or she must be looking forward, not looking backward. People want inspiration, a message of hope in the future. Someone who understands them, and who speaks for them - not at them. And...the right team to bring it home. A leader must have the 'royal jelly' for the job, but with a common touch.

Until next time.....

With Santorum gone, what does it mean?

Welcome back!
It's been a much longer time than usual since our last post. Laura and I have been on the road virtually every week doing seminars. In this past month we've been to Charleston SC (heaven!); Philadelphia, New York, and several other business-related jaunts have kept us insanely busy. In between, I've been mad at work on the final edits on the 2012-13 editions of our first two Communicate with Power pocket tips books. I received the first copy of Overcoming Panic and Fear: Risk and Crisis Communications today.

The Launch of 2012-13 Edition: 'Overcoming Panic and Fear: Risk and Crisis Communications'

The look on my face in this picture is one of R-E-L-I-E-F. It's been a long time coming and we will be shipping out the pocket tips to our clients starting tomorrow. It's packed with 150 pages of strategies, tactics and skills to communicate effectively about issues of risk, and in emergencies and crises. If you want to know more about it click on:  http://mcloughlinmedia.com/our--new-pocket-tips-s268.php or drop me an email at barry@mcloughlinmedia.com and we would be happy to tell you all about it.

How Does Mitt Romney Spell Relief?
Speaking of relief, I'm sure that Mitt Romney must be relieved now that Rick Santorum has pulled the plug on his campaign. Not because he feared losing to him, but by pulling out, he just saved Romney's campaign a ton of money and more negative ads firing at a fellow Republican.
What can Romney do to close the gap?
Leaving aside the 'Etch a Sketch' controversy generated by his communications aide [in which he said that Romney could wipe the policy slate clean in September], he does have to pivot cleanly over to the issues that will give him a shot at the Presidency in November. He has to remember that an incumbent President must be voted out of office as the electorate rarely votes in a new President. Think of Jimmy Carter vs. Ronald Reagan or George Walker Bush vs. Bill Clinton. Those were classic cases of voting out the incumbent.
So here is what Romney has to accomplish in the next seven months:
1. Don't try a Game Changer as John McCain did with Sarah Palin. [Great HBO movie by the way]. Besides the electorate can smell a desperate ploy and will run for the exits should Romney try one of those.
2. Pick a running mate who can help him - such as Florida's Senator Marco Rubio who could reach the Catholic and Latino voter more effectively than Romney; or a woman VP candidate such as South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley who would be critically important to help close the gender gap. The key today for a strong VP candidate is someone who can not only bring home their state's electoral college votes, but more importantly make a big dent in a much-needed demographic group.
3. Focus the ballot question on the President's handling of the economy. Avoid making it nasty and personal. Contrast in positive terms how he would fix the economy and getting it moving again - with jobs as the focus. As the economy improves, however, it will make it harder to tag President Obama with it.
4. Romney needs to re-define himself from being the Wall Street 'loves to fire people' guy into a person who will fight for the American workers and small-business owners. His difficulty in handling his own personal narrative and family wealth have helped define him as the 'voice of the 1%'.
5. Get rid of the over-rehearsed awkward efforts at connecting with people. He needs to convey a credible sense that he gets what real families are going through and reach them with a message that they care about.To this point, he has trouble doing that.
6. He needs to heal the very deep wounds of the primary season, pull them together and get them to work with enthusiasm for his victory. When you spend a year making huge negative ad buys on your fellow Republican candidates, that will be incredibly difficult. He needs to build on the base - not pander to it.
7. He has to run a great fall campaign, win the debate with Obama, improve his 'earned media' campaign and try to avoid the verbal gaffes that have plagued his nomination battle. A tall order to say the least!
Ultimately, Romney's challenges seem almost insurmountable, but as both he and Barack Obama know, seven months is a lifetime in politics.
The Canadian Government's F-35 Procurement Controversy
The Harper government has been struggling to put a controversy behind it concerning what it knew-and when it knew it -  about the real costs of the development and procurement of a fleet of fighter aircraft to replace the F-18 fleet which is getting closer to its 30 year life-span. The Opposition parties have tried to define the issue as 'mis-leading Parliament' while the government has tried to put the issue behind it by acting immediately to respond to the recommendations of the Auditor General. Who will win the 'battle of the issue'? It all depends on how engaged the public becomes and what they think of the whole matter. I commented on the public's perception of the issue on CTV's PowerPlay along with pollster Nik Nanos.
The NDP's New Leader Sets Out to Define Himself

The rule of politics is 'define yourself before your opponents do' and no party has been better at that than the Conservative Party under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Thanks to the successful 2011 election campaign led by the late Jack Layton, the NDP has found itself the Official Opposition with the Liberals under interim leader (and former NDP Premier) Bob Rae filling the void during the NDP leadership race as the 'real' Opposition.
So the NDP have leapt quickly to define Thomas Mulcair (now known as 'Tom') - their new leader - by launching a series of television ads. I appeared on Tuesday night on CTV's PowerPlay with Don Martin and former NDP Communications Director Brad Lavigne to discuss their effectiveness. My conclusion was that it wasn't a bad start but it needs to be better executed and he needs to show he can connect with voters.
Remembering Mike Wallace

And finally, the passing of Mike Wallace, a true broadcasting legend, was noted by many news outlets this week. Wallace was a one-of-a-kind news man whose sixty year career - including four decades on 60 Minutes - made a very powerful contribution to news and current affairs. I couldn't help but think of the times that Laura and I would see him on Main Street of Vineyard Haven - usually he had just finished a tennis match or was lining up for a coffee in the deli.

The first time we had met him was at a talk he gave in Edgartown at the Old Whaling Church in which he recapped his career - complete with terrific video clips from 60 Minutes. I asked him, "if a CEO were about to be interviewed by you, what would you advise?" I'll never forget his answer: "I would advise that person to get media training. You know, there are people who specialize in that? I spend my whole career interviewing so it's not a level playing field."
Afterwards, Laura and I came up and I sheepishly introduced myself as a media trainer and we had a chuckle and a nice chat about that. Laura brought up a recent situation with him about a government agency that had refused to speak with him about a controversial issue. She wanted to know how he felt about their refusal to talk to him - in which they had ultimately ordered him off the property?
"We always had a great relationship and they had received great coverage from us over the years", he told her, just shaking his head, genuinely mystified at their treatment of him. That strategy not only failed to get the Agency's message out, it effectively shut their message out of the program totally. He revealed that he had been a Communications Officer in the Navy and knew that their refusal to cooperate made his item one-sided and he didn't understand how media relations professionals would not realize that.

His warmth and charisma were powerful to behold - on television and in person and, although he has had many imitators, he was a true original.

Until next time.....

Saying goodbye to a crazy June....

Welcome back!
Just before we wrap up this crazy month of June and, as we get ready for the national celebrations, and, of course Will and Kate's whirlwind honeymoon tour - along with 1600 accredited journalists - about to descend - first in Canada, and then in the United States, let's pause to consider for a few minutes what has transpired since my last missive some two weeks ago.
Anthony Weiner - gone, mercifully. Well at least until he tries a comeback - most likely I predict he will still try to run for New York's mayoralty in 2013. Why not? He's phenomenally more famous due to his tweeting and lying, right?
Conrad Black is going back to jail - thus satisfying those who can never get enough of punishing him. Proportionality went out the window on his case a long time ago, so, even after setting aside another conviction for what he has already been punished for, Judge Amy St. Eve sent him back to jail for up to another 13 months.
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich - in the same courthouse, no less....  was found guilty on 17 of 20 counts of criminal conduct and even he seemed subdued by the jury's decision. Even at that, there is no cause for schadenfreude or the usual gloating that goes on when the mighty and powerful are brought down. It's more sad than anything. 
Settling Strikes
Two strikes were settled in Canada in recent weeks - one at Air Canada, in which even the whiff of back-to-work legislations by the Harper government led to a quick settlement. The Canada Post strike required a full throttle Parliamentary debate that pitted the NDP Opposition against the Harper government's legislation. Although it didn't satisfy the underlying issues, a majority of the public (two-thirds) felt that it was the right thing to do. Word is that even the union didn't want the strike to continue, as it would cost the workers more than they would have gained. Both the NDP and the Conservative government came out of the Parliamentary battle reinforcing their values to their core supporters. The Liberals, led by Bob Rae, tried to find a middle ground, and got run over. Is that a harbinger for the future, as they try to rebuild their brand?
Expedience is its own reward
What both strikes have brought to the fore is that the under-funded pensions negotiated in past agreements, are coming back to haunt public and private sector corporations alike. The US Postal Service has announced that they are suspending their pension scheme as they cannot afford to keep it going. Although one does not like to see any corporation renege on their longstanding commitments, it comes down to trying to get 'blood out of a stone'. Taxpayers and customers won't help bail them out, so where would the money come from? Expedience is its own reward.
Will and Kate's Excellent Adventure - with no media interviews.....
Following their spectacular wedding, HRH William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, will be gracing Canada and the United States, beginning tomorrow. One suggestion I would have had from a media consulting perspective, is for them to do a few media interviews in each country. It's an ideal opportunity to show the public that they are open and responsive - especially in Canada - where one day he will actually be the King of Canada. Just doing a BBC interview does little to connect with those living in Commonwealth countries. Besides, they might be very pleasantly surprised at how well the media will treat them on this side of the ocean! Maybe next time.....
Note our change of address:
On June 30th, our Canadian office is moving to: World Exchange Plaza, 45 O'Connor St. Suite 1150, Ottawa ON, Canada K1P 1A4. Our phone numbers and emails stay the same.

Happy Canada Day! Happy 4th of July! I hope you have a great summer! Stay safe and I hope your 'down time' is a good time.
Until next time.....