It was called ‘television’. It was like Youtube except you only had 5 channels – hard to believe!
In 1960, John F. Kennedy, a one-term senator from Massachussets ran against Richard Nixon, the Vice President of the US for 8 years.
The country was doing pretty well.
The economy was booming. There were no wars. Unemployment was low. Prospects were high.
Kennedy looked like a long-shot.
Nixon seemed to have it in the bag.. until…
The two candidates decided to do a series of televised debates.
No one had ever done this before.
Television was a relatively new medium, but by 1960 everyone had one and everyone was watching one.
So when they decided to debate, the whole country tuned in.
Now, here’s the important part:
Kennedy ‘got’ TV.
He got it in way that Nixon couldn’t.
Nixon refused to wear make up, for example, so he looked all hot and sweaty.
(in those days, they used big studio lights, which made him look even worse)
Kennedy was perfect for the medium – cool, funny, good looking.
Think Jon Stewart vs. Dick Cheney
It was a no brainer.
Kennedy blew Nixon out of the water.
People who listened to the debate on the radio, by the way, thought that Nixon had done better.
So much for radio.
And a new dictum was born.
He who understands the medium (or he who is the most entertaining) wins.
This is why I am today inundated with tweets and email from my old ‘friend’ Barack Obama.
It’s a rather pathetic attempt to use the ‘new medium’ to his advantage.
Doesn’t work
I am not fooled
I don’t feel like Barack Obama is my ‘friend’.
It feels like just another piece of junk mail.
But let’s get back to video, because despite twitter we are still video nation. (6 hours a day of video viewing and going up all the time).
Four years ago, Lisa and I were invited to a ‘fundraiser’ for Hillary, who was, if you still remember, running for President.
For a mere $10,000 we got dinner with Bill and Hillary and about 30 seconds of ‘face time’. We didn’t want to blow it (not at those prices), so when our 30 seconds came, Lisa (in her most British voice – (there’s a reason Downton Abbey won all those Emmys) said, “Your online video is appallingly bad”, to Hillary.
Well, this got her attention.
She immediately sent over Huma Abedin, her Chief of Staff (who later made the terrible mistake of marrying Anthony Weiner, who also does not understand twitter).
In any event, Huma was all ears. “What do you mean her video is terrible”? asked Huma.
“You should be all over Youtube” we said.
“U-Tube” said Huma. “What is that”? And she wrote down U-Tube.
“Youtube” we said, correcting her notes.
Shocking?
You bet!
True story?
You bet!
We didn’t get our much sought after consulting contract with the campaign (too bad), but we did get a few emails and phone calls picking our brains.
A few months later we got an email from someone over there thanking us for all our help and saying that they had taken our advice and that we should look at Hillary’s website tonight at 8PM when they were going to do a ‘ive webcast where people would be able to email in questions’. So we checked it out. And there it was. They must have set up a 3-camera shoot in Hillary’s living room. It looked like the set of Good Morning America. And there was Hillary all dressed in pearls making sure NOT to make eye contact with the camera. And there was some staffer with a laptop reading Hillary questions that ‘people’ had emailed in.
Great. Death.
Now, I watch Obama making all these speeches on TV.
A talking head.
Doesn’t he get video?
It’s so strange.
Why not take the guy all over the country and let him make his ‘speech’ in real places. You know, make a damned TV show out of it.
Music, locations, people, and a star of the reality series.
Barack Obama.
Look at what Al Gore did with what was nothing but a powerpoint presentation in Inconvenient Truth
He won an Emmy for crying out loud.
So, as the Emmys were last night… Barack, for Chrissake, get out from behind the podium. Use the medium for what it’s great for – taking people places.
And go!
Make your movie!
