The Word from Washington
THE WORD FROM WASHINGTON Two weeks before Americans — some of them, anyway — went to the polls, the hucksters of Madison Avenue flocked to the Biltmore Hotel to hear colleagues John Deardourff and...
...But one Madison Avenue man raised a prickly question: Could a good advertising campaign sell the American people a crummy Presidential product...
...Selling a President is not like selling soap," said Deardourff, Gerald Ford's chief marketer, somewhat defensively...
...The advertising experts agreed that television offered the most "bang for the buck...
...And while we were supposed to be feeling good, we saw Ford with senior citizens, Ford with children, Ford with workers, Ford with Betty — paternal, firm, good natured, honest, experienced Jerry Ford (without makeup) telling Americans the way it is...
...Now, we've been sold a President, and there are no warranties, no refunds, or no exchanges on this offer, which will not be repeated for four years...
...In all, the two candidates had some fifty different thirty-second and sixty-second spots for the national networks...
...Character, Rafshoon indicated, was best conveyed by letting Jimmy be, gosh, just Plains of sunny Jim...
...second, the information and imagery conveyed through paid advertising must compete with information and imagery presented by what Deardourff termed the "unpaid media" — the press...
...Potomacus...
...The issue," Rafshoon echoed for Jimmy Carter, "is the candidate's character, leadership, and integrity...
...To the catchy strains of Soul Train, we saw Jimmy greeting the people, Jimmy caressing corn stalks, Jimmy talking about leadership, for a change — the Carter campaign slogan...
...And Rafshoon and Deardourff praised the networks for providing the candidates with time slots for five-minute film ads — a bargain at a mere $8,000 to $9,000 a shot...
...Deardourff told the advertising men that the Ford team spent about $7 million on television, $1.5 million on radio, $1.2 million on mass-circulation newspapers, and $300,000 on "ethnic and selected target newspapers...
...The only "issue" that motivated potential voters was the candidate's "character, experience, intellect, and decisiveness," said Deardourff about his publicity blitz for President Ford...
...urn The advertising executives in the audience accorded Deardourff and Rafshoon the deference young art students would have bestowed on Rembrandt...
...Well, maybe not the Edsel, but the American people bought Cadillacs with fins, vaginal deodorants, Geritol, electric tooth brushes, Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips, and Richard Nixon...
...Here, too, there was agreement: Nobody cares about the "issues...
...there were many variations on the theme — a Mexican-American version, a Country-Western version, a Republican translation of black soul music, a rock version — so that all Americans, regardless of race, creed, color, sex, or musical persuasion, could feel good about America and Jerry Ford...
...Well, not exactly like selling soap...
...Carter and Ford commercials appeared on some 480 television and 1,800 radio stations across the country...
...The American people didn't buy the Edsel...
...Deardourff must have noticed some raised eyebrows among advertising heavies in the audience, for he proceeded to reel off four basic differences between promoting a President and pushing a product: First and most obvious, the "product" in the Presidential campaign is a human being, usually...
...Mill In the final weeks of the campaign, Americans were bombarded with the "messages" conceived by Deardourff and Rafshoon...
...THE WORD FROM WASHINGTON Two weeks before Americans — some of them, anyway — went to the polls, the hucksters of Madison Avenue flocked to the Biltmore Hotel to hear colleagues John Deardourff and Gerald Rafshoon discuss the packaging and selling of the Presidency...
...Political advertising was big business during the campaign...
...The linchpin of the Ford/Deardourff advertising effort was the slogan, "He's making us proud again...
...each of the major candidates spent about $10 million...
...And, of course, every campaign slogan must have its theme song — Soul Train simply would not do for Jerry Ford — so Deardourff wrote one: Feeling Good about America...
...Absolutely not," said Rafshoon...
...Carter's breakdown was only slightly different: Rafshoon put $7 million into television, $1 million into radio, $500,000 into print media, and the rest into brochures and miscellaneous advertising...
...And the TV message...
...third, in order to promote a candidate successfully, one must capture "at least one more than half of the total market," and finally, all of the "sales" in a Presidential push are made on a single day...
...But not just one song...
Vol. 40 • December 1976 • No. 12
