"Last night was political theater, not a real debate," says Alan Siegel, Founder and CEO of brand strategy firm Siegel+Gale. "The American people are yearning to hear the authentic, credible voices of the candidates in these debates – not prepackaged 'message points,' winks, or posturing."
Siegel pioneered the concept of "Corporate Voice" over 25 years ago. Since then, he has been helping corporations and organizations develop powerfully positioned, clear, consistent, and resonant communications to their many audiences.
Following is Mr. Siegel's assessment of the "Voices" of the candidates in last night's debates:
Joe Biden's "Voice"
"Biden's voice was clear (although he was hoarse), confident, credible, genuine, passionate, responsive and respectful, commanding and vice presidential."
Sarah Palin's "Voice"
"Palin's voice was perky and enthusiastic, friendly, down-home, programmed, colloquial, ditzy, predictable, and at times modestly contentious."
Overall Observations
"The moderator contributed to the lack of debate by allowing Palin to insert her own programmed responses instead of answering the questions.
"Palin's repeated name dropping – trying to prove that she could pronounce difficult names – was annoying.
"Inserting her meeting with Kissinger into the conversation was laughable.
"During a time of such national crisis, the American people deserve more."
-----
So, what say you? Does the "expert's" observations match yours?
You know my views on politics, as it relates to branding. Oh . . . you don't? Well, if you're interested, you can read all about it in my new book: A Little Less Conversation: Connecting with Customers in a Noisy World. The title kind of gives it away.
Posted October 3, 2008
Email this post
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c684b53ef0105352d84ee970c
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference “Political theater, not debate” says branding expert:
The comments to this entry are closed.
(Rest assured, we will never provide your email address to anyone. Period.)
RSS feed
Tom on Twitter
@tomasacker
Tom is timely, thought provoking and all about the new brand vision packaged as a Seinfeld stand up. I went to school on his ideas.
Jeff Taylor, Founder, Monster.com and CEO, Eons.
When Tom Asacker writes, I read. Opportunity Screams is the right message for the right time.
Tom Peters
...and Biden making things up last night, Siegel forgot that.
The pundits and press, made this all about Palin's performance (in the debate). She does well by the post-debate polls and then she gets knocked for "theater"? They can't have both ways. Good grief.
Siegel comments show he may connected with his his elite, coastal clients, but hasn't a clue about the rest of the country.
Posted by: William | October 03, 2008 at 05:46 PM
"Siegel comments show he may connected with his his elite, coastal clients, but hasn't a clue about the rest of the country."
To which I would add: Romans 1:22.
Posted by: Neil Williams | October 04, 2008 at 11:01 AM
And so it continues…
While it might betray his political prejudices, Alan Siegel’s assessment of the non-debate was a carefully reasoned and considered personal opinion. By implication, you are promoting your opinion as being representative of “the rest of the country” while failing to make any point at all other than accusing Siegel of elitism because you disagree with. I think you have amde his point beautifully. Republicans, and I assume you are one Mr. Six-Pack, don’t want debate; they just want to be right. And if you dare to disagree, you are an elitist.
Posted by: alan brew | October 04, 2008 at 03:50 PM
Alan, beautiful. You've now ascended to name calling? Wow, to think a former Siegel employee would be so fired up often advertises a sore spot that has sustained a direct hit.
Posted by: william | October 05, 2008 at 01:38 AM