Fifteen lessons from the longest and most expensive presidential campaign in U.S. history

Let’s be honest, the 2008 presidential election hasn’t been historic, it’s been earth shattering. Historians will measure every other campaign B.E.2008 and A.E.2008—that’s Before Election and After Election.

It has been the longest and most expensive race; it featured two strong women of two very different and opposing backgrounds; it pitted the oldest presidential candidate against the first black candidate; and it left communicators with plenty of speeches to celebrate, criticize and dissect.

“I think there has been some thrilling rhetoric in this race—rhetoric that has brought tears to my eyes and made me laugh out loud,” said former White House speechwriter Ken Askew. “Some of the speeches have been very engaging intellectually.”

Since any election is an exercise in communications, embodying everything corporate communications from PR to speechwriting, Ragan.com interviewed six communicators to learn the most important lessons the campaign taught us.

So with no further ado, the longest and most expensive and most earth-shattering election ever—in 15 easy lessons.

1 Social media is here to stay.

You know the executives that balk at implementing social media campaigns, well Barack Obama and John McCain showed that social media is no passing fad. Both candidates embraced blogs, social networks and Web video.

“These presidential campaigns are always trying to innovate and try the latest, greatest and best ways to activate their grassroots constituencies,” explained Washington D.C.-based PR pro Geoff Livingston. “And so for them to use social media tools as heavily as they have is to legitimize it.”

2 Tap into social networks.

The Obama campaign created a social network, MyBarackObama, on its official Web site. Members of that network at times criticized the candidate over his various positions. Livingston called this an ideal model for large corporate organizations.

“If you can’t control your local people or your retail chain (for instance, a large charity or an automobile manufacturer with dealerships all over the place) who might be communicating or blogging on social networks then give them the tools to communicate. Enable them with the brand; don’t control them,” he explained.

3 Don’t sequester your executive.

The McCain campaign stirred pandemonium in its conservative supporters and created buzz among undecided voters when Sarah Palin joined the ticket. And then the campaign built a wall around her. She sat for very few interviews; did far fewer public appearances than her running mate or rivals and rarely took questions from reporters on the campaign trail.

Bad idea, say many speechwriters and PR pros.

“The opening was good, but then they shoved the rook out to be taken by a pawn,” explained Joan Hope, a former campaign communicator from Alaska. “It was just a dumb move.”

Hope suggested that the McCain campaign tried to shape her into something she is not. “She was pressured to learn to parrot what they taught, and then turned loose and told to act like a world leader,” Hope said.

Livingston believes sequestering Palin, or any executive, is a bonehead idea. “[The McCain campaign] basically said, ‘Stop talking to the public,’ and put her in a corner and hid her,” he explained.

“And what that’s done is put great pressure on her being successful.”

4 Portray your female executive as tough in her own way—don’t adopt a masculine mystique.

Between Hillary Clinton and Palin, women made their mark on this election and it will resonate through the corporate world. Women needn’t look and act like men to be successful.

“These are two women [Clinton and Palin], both politically aggressive and eager for their own success, with completely different styles,” explained Hope. “One plays into the role expected, the other plays to the populist; both styles are engaging and obviously capable of instilling loyalty in their followers.”

5 Say no to the Big Formal Speech.

The former chief speechwriter to President Carter, James Fallows, wrote in The Atlantic Monthly, “Repeatedly during this campaign, [Obama] has gotten himself out of serious political or policy problems with the ‘big formal speech.’” For instance, Obama talked his way out the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy with his race relations speech.

Will Obama inspire your executive to deliver a “big formal speech” when there is a problem with employee morale or stakeholder unrest? It shouldn’t, said former Al Gore speechwriter Robert Lehrman.

“If people watch Roger Federer, will they play [tennis] any better?” he asked. “The things that make political speeches dull won’t be fixed by a good example.” And neither will dull corporate speeches. Unless your executive has preternatural speaking skills, don’t let him or her give a “big formal speech.”

6 Don’t forget the power of a good story.

Weaving stories into a speech is a basic tenet of speechwriting. Former Bush speechwriter Matt Scully worked a story into Palin’s speech at the RNC, while Huckabee finished his address with an effective parable.

“Both should remind people how powerful the illuminating or inspirational story is in speechwriting,” Lehrman explained.

“That’s something Obama’s writers could do more.”

7 PowerPoint is mainstream.

At the RNC, a digital background behind the speakers sometimes showed a waving flag and other times displayed various stirring images of patriotism.

“I think this is the first time you have seen the effects of PowerPoint finally hit the mainstream,” explained former Fred Thompson speechwriter Mike Long. “And while that’s obviously not how we use PowerPoint, we have grown accustom to more than a song—we’re expecting a song and dance.”

That digital screen is the first step toward satisfying a growing audience expectation to see and hear speeches. So start thinking of your speeches visually.

By the way, that’s good news for freelancers who charge by the hour because then they bill time for not only writing but also finding images; for salaried speechwriters, that means more work for the same amount of money.

8 Acknowledge the other side is right.

During the first presidential debate, Obama agreed with McCain on several points. In fact, the McCain campaign made an attack ad that showed the many times Obama said, “He is right.”

A perceived weakness by Republicans, Lehrman instead called it a classic way to persuade undecided voters.

“It makes you appear moderate,” he said. “McCain was wrong to use that in an ad. He just shot himself in the foot. That ad just makes more undecideds see Obama as a reasonable guy.”

If a trade group, union, competitor or consumers make statements about your company—and you agree with them—don’t disagree, instead insist they are right and build off the consensus. As Lehrman noted, it will make your executive and the company look reasonable.

9 The teleprompter killed the stump-speech star?

“Authenticity and substance on the stump has disappeared,” explained Askew. “I believe very strongly in the carefully crafted speeches, but there seems to be a lack of authenticity in terms of face-to-face communication on the campaign trail and that is disturbing” though nothing new.

He blamed it partly on the sudden surge in teleprompter use on the campaign trail. Both candidates, Obama in particular, read from teleprompters as they addressed crowds around the country.

Ian Griffin, a former executive communicator with HP, thinks there’s nothing wrong with the teleprompter if they’re used correctly. “They’re a tool just like slides or note cards,” he said. “The trick is not to be overly reliant on any one vehicle.”

In fact, Griffin recommends speechwriters resist the urge to rewrite an executive’s stump speech.

“There is a tendency in corporate communications to get bored with the message and change it before the outer reaches of the organizations have really absorbed it,” he said. “It’s a challenge for the corporate communicators not to change it around.”

Do not change the content, but do make sure the message is fresh. As a speechwriter, enliven the material with a new story for each location your executive visits and help your speaker improve each time he speaks.

10 Blend litany and concrete detail in your speeches.

Remember Obama’s speech after he lost the New Hampshire primary to Clinton? He delivered a 15-minute speech that repeated two litanies: “There is something happening,” which started the speech, and “Yes we can,” which closed it.

Between those lines of the speech, Obama told stories of Americans and the challenges they face.

“Obama’s use of litany and concrete detail is really unusual,” explained Lehrman. “It’s not unique—and no different than his 2004 Democratic Convention keynote.”

In fact, as Lehrman noted, blending litany and detail is no different than Mike Huckabee’s speech to the RNC. In it, Huckabee addressed certain groups of people and repeated the line, “You want something to change.”

11 The person who tries something new wins.

Both Obama and McCain paved new roads with their campaigns, Long explained. Obama banked on voter turnout among people in their 20s, a gamble that didn’t pay off in past elections; McCain continually jump started his campaign—picking Palin, suspending his campaign—when Obama widened his lead in the polls.

Both men tried new strategies for their campaigns.

“That’s a real lesson for communicators and it’s a hard lesson for managers because what it says is let the guy with the new ideas have some space,” Long said. “The Clinton campaign is a good example of the manager that follows the slow and easy until it fails.”

12 The idea speech is alive and well.

The formal speeches of both party’s conventions were impressive, Askew noted. He characterized these as “idea speeches.”

“A good speech always has an idea—though not every idea is a good one—and an idea is an imagination contagion,” Askew explained. “Something that pierces the imagination and attracts the attention of the listener, who turns the idea over in his head and shares it and by then it becomes personal.

“In a political race people will forgive a lack of details if they have an idea.”

13 Write for the sound bite.

This one is obvious, but it grows more important each year.

“Speechwriters are obviously very savvy about this,” said Griffin. “You might make a 30-minute speech but you have to have a sound bite or two to make the evening news.”

Don’t expect the continued importance of sound bites to change.

“Presidential politics is marketing,” Long explained. “That doesn’t mean the death of big ideas or the death of big speeches; that just means that more and more of the campaign—corporate or political— will be focused on the forwarding of ideas as entertainment.”

14 Beware of high-flown rhetoric.

The average American is suspicious of too much rhetoric, Griffin observed. For instance, the McCain campaign drew blood on Obama for his Ivy League elitism.

“I think speechwriters need to bear in mind that you can’t put too much high-flown rhetoric in the mouth of an average executive without making them sound too flowery,” Griffin explained. “The main thing is authenticity.”

If your executive is a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy or gal, then write that way; don’t feed them high rhetoric just because you can.

15 Your job security looks good.

Agree with him or not, Obama ranks among the finest orators in American politics today—maybe in modern U.S. history. He thrilled and moved enormous crowds and TV viewers with his speeches, invoking comparisons to Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy.

If your executives paid attention— and they did—then perhaps it renewed their interest in the power of public speaking. “That’s splendid news for a person like me because it means he thinks speaking is worthwhile,” said Long.