The Myth of Messaging
The Boy Who Cried Wolf… The story of Judas… The Legends of King Arthur… Ask the vast majority of Americans and they would instantly be able to tell you the plot of these stories. Moreover, they would instantly be able to tell you the moral of the story. So, what does this have to do with political or public affairs campaigns? Absolutely everything!
The human brain is wired to think in terms of stories. The Ancient Greeks realized this when they created their myths. Even the Bible is written to take this into account, with Jesus using parables as his most effective teaching device. A myth or parable takes abstract concepts, usually moral in nature, and puts them into a concrete context. The human brain can then internalize them for later use. Within any given culture, including the American culture, a group of these myths become the common basis for morality.
Americans are exposed to thousands upon thousands of messages every day. In order for a political or public affairs campaign to break through this clutter and create an effective message, they have to use shortcuts. That’s where the campaign narrative comes into play. A campaign narrative is the overall story of the campaign. It must tie into a preexisting narrative framework (one of the common myths that almost all Americans already know).
I’ve previously discussed the importance of building a strong brand for political campaigns as well as for issue advocacy and corporate brands. In terms of the campaign narrative, this brand becomes all the more important. This brand becomes the character development of the hero. I have also discussed previously the importance of going negative on the opposition. In terms of the campaign narrative, this negative framework becomes the character development for the villain.
Creating the campaign narrative simply requires one take the hero and the villain and give them context. This context should tie in to one of the hundreds of myths that taken together compose the American myth collection (which is a “common” shared by almost all of the public). The choice of which myth to tie into relies heavily on what kind of hero/villain you are dealing with, but it should also take into consideration the public’s mood and the aspirations. If the public believes things are on the “right track” you will chose a different myth than if people believe the country is headed in the “wrong direction.”
Without a context, you are either a) allowing your opponent to write the narrative, which will naturally paint your side as the villain; b) trusting the media to decide who is the villain and who is the hero, which is always risky; or c) being ignored completely because the public won’t have a context to understand the issue or race and thus will simply ignore it.
Research shows that people use the part of their brain tied to emotional memories when making decisions on who to vote for or what cause to support. Since myths are devices used to instill values, a narrative enables your message to engage with this part of the brain and as a result your message sticks where it matters the most.
