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January
23 ‘What’s Hot in PR? – Digital Rules Politics ’08’ Fuels a Debate of its Own |
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(l to r) Moderator: Christianne Klein, Anchor & Correspondent, ABC News Panel Liza Sabater, Blogpreneur. Jon Fine, Media Columnist, BusinessWeek Andrew Rasiej, Founder, Personal Democracy Forum |
| By
Meghan Gerrity, Project Manager, DraftFCB Healthcare – Young Executive
Committee AWNY’s January 23 “What’s Hot in PR?–Digital Rules Politics 2008” breakfast and lively panel discussion was a huge hit with over 70 attendees. The event, held at MSN headquarters, was moderated by Christianne Klein, Anchor & Correspondent, ABC News. The panel consisted of: Jon Fine, Media Columnist, Business Week, Andrew Rasiej, Founder, Personal Democracy Forum, and Liza Sabater, Founder, Culturekitchen.com. The panelists affirmed their belief that although the internet community has changed the way voters receive their political information, there is a long way to go before its impact reaches the White House. Rasiej talked about how the internet’s role in politics is changing and bringing power back into the hands of individual voters. Political opinion has often been formed by conversations with friends and family, he said, noting that the way those opinions have been formed has changed. At one point opinions were formed in diners and at the dinner table, but now they are developed with the help of blogs and other online conversations. Rasiej noted that Hillary Clinton and many other candidates use a ‘top down’ approach to campaigning where the majority of the money is put out up front and used to gain momentum and votes. Barack Obama, on the other hand, uses a ‘bottom up’ approach, developing different grassroots communities which in turn gain ground and bring in money. To support this effort, the Obama camp created a Facebook application that can update campaign content across all users who install it. In today’s world, he added, you don’t need to be the leader of a nation state to have power, as evidenced by Al Gore. Even though he lost his run for the presidency, Gore was able to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Fine noted that even though internet advertising is widely used, the 2008 presidential hopefuls prefer the more conservative medium of the 30-second spot. The internet does put the candidates in an atmosphere where everything they say or do is transmitted across the country and the world in seconds. Although change is coming, Fine said that it is coming very slowly. While admitting that blogs and blogging are powerful tools, he believes the internet is not as important at crunch time as is traditional media. Blogger, Sabater, added that political communication has become more decentralized. For example, many women find political information through non-political media, like “mommy blogs” or fashion blogs. These media often contain some of the most interesting political conversations. This may be because ‘niche marketing’ is changing and people are embracing multiple targets. While one woman may love reading ‘up to the minute’ celebrity gossip, she is also be a voter and actively involved in her community. This way of thinking translates into voters coming into the political sphere from non-traditional venues, such as Google searches or reading blogs. Despite the hype, and even though the blogosphere has brought ‘up to the minute’ campaign details to the masses and 90% of Americans get their political information online, the panel pretty much agreed that the world of digital media has yet to create the momentum needed to elect a candidate for president on its own. To quote Rasiej, ‘while the internet is evolutionary, it is not yet revolutionary. |
| EVENTS
COVERAGE |
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| APRIL 23 | Breakfast with Nina DiSesa, Chairman, McCann Erickson, New York |
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| APRIL 4 | AWNY’s New Member Kick-Off Breakfast |
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| MARCH 12 | 2007 Advertising Woman of the Year Luncheon Photos |
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| FEBRUARY 27 | AWNY’s 2008 Roast honoring Renetta McCann |
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| FEBRUARY 7 | Advertising Working Mothers of the Year Luncheon |
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| JANUARY 30 | Media Insights Breakfast with Jack Myers |
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| JANUARY 15 | Boardroom Breakfast with Andrew McLean |
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